


A Crack in the Soul

by iremi678



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 05:42:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 26,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16402388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iremi678/pseuds/iremi678
Summary: When a summoner from another world ends up as Sawada Tsunayoshi, the world will never be the same.





	1. Chapter 1

     Waking up when you were completely certain you were dead is a very disconcerting feeling. Then coming to the realization that this is not your body and there are memories in your head that are not yours? Well, I can be excused for quickly descending into a full-on panic attack. Because yes it seems you have been reborn and are just now remembering your past life. It was only after a good 20 minutes had passed that I had calmed down enough to notice that there was some very wrong with this…my…my body. Tsuna, my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi now. That’s going to take a while to get used to. But it feels like there is something… missing. I can't figure out what it is. Frowning, I think back on my new memories trying to find the cause. The last thing I can remember is an old man poking my forehead and then nothing. I must have passed out after that. Whatever that old man did, Nono, my memories supply, he stole something from me and left only a freezing void in its place. I'll get it back, I need to. Hesitantly, I raise may hand and touch my sternum, a sigh of relief runs through me. The gems that prove the spirits I have contracts with are still there.

'Come forth and become the chains that bind us' I chant. 'Ruha'. A crimson red orb of light appears from the center of my chest and forms into a floating handsome man with long red hair.

'Rei' His face softens as he calls my name. 'This is quite the predicament you've gotten yourself into. Regardless, I'm happy to see you again'.

 

'It always seems to be me that gets wrapped up in this kind of thing. Do you know how this happened? What about the others?' I ask frantically.

  
He shakes his head 'I don't know how this happened. As for the others, the proof of your contracts are still there so you should be able to use their powers, but I am the only one that came with you.'

  
'I see' disappointment fills me 'I'll miss them. But, at least I still have you.' The other spirits I had contracts with, I’ll never see them again. After everything we went through together, it leaves a lonely feeling. None, but the most powerful spirit, Ruha, was able to follow me. I look down at my hands dispasionatly. I feel the bed shift as Ruha sits down next to me.

  
'What do you plan to do?'

  
'I don't know.' I bring my legs to my chest. 'I never had a plan, or any dreams for that matter. I risked everything knowing I would die in the end. There was no after.'

  
'Your right.' He gently cards his hand through my hair. 'You never even got the chance to live, you were only surviving because you had no other choice. Maybe this is your opportunity. You still have your parents, even if your father has run off to who knows where. But you have people who love and care about you. Take advantage of that. You deserve it after everything.'

  
'It will take a while for me to accept that.'

  
'I know. I didn’t expect you to accept it right away.’

  
‘Let’s save the rest of that conversation for a later time. Right now, what is most important is that there’s something wrong with my body. The old man who was here earlier, he took something from me. I remembered everything when I woke up afterwards.’

  
He frowns, his hand stilling on my head. His golden eyes then glint with barely concealed fury as he’s found what he was looking for. ‘He sealed away your soul. That should have killed you.’

  
We sit there in salience letting that revelation sink in. Through the anger building in me I think about the last memories. I frown. ‘I think it did. The more and more I think about this, the less it seems that I was reincarnated. It’s more like I,’

  
‘Took over’ he finishes. ‘It’s possible. It could explain why you are here. Tsuna must have died and the world needed to find a replacement.’

  
‘And I just happened to win the lottery I guess.’

  
‘More than that. Your souls were similar enough that his body isn’t rejecting your soul. This also means that he’s important. He can’t just not be present in this world.’  
‘So I took his place.’ I sigh ‘Wonderful.’ I pause to think. ‘What if you remove the seal? Would that bring him back? Can you remove the seal?’

  
‘The seals, not the issue I can remove that no problem. But, he’s not coming back. Once you took over, he was by all rights dead. And even I can’t bring back the dead.’

  
‘That’s…’ I trail off. I can’t even find the words. Some old man he had only met for the first time kills him. ‘His luck is right up there with mine.’ I chuckle humorlessly.  
‘It’s sad I can’t deny that.’ His had is moving through my hair again.

  
‘He didn’t deserve this.’

  
‘No, neither of you did.’ He agrees.

  
‘Ruha’ I start looking at him for the first time since we started this conversation.’

  
‘Hmm?’

  
‘I decided what I want to do from now on.’ He looks at me intently, waiting for my answer. ‘I’ll live for him. I’ll give him a life that he won’t have any regrets from. No matter what the world planned for this boy, I’ll make sure he has a happy life.’ Determination fills me. Tsuna deserves at least this, and I can give it to him. I think that I can be happy this way to. Arms slowly wrap around me and I briefly tense up before relaxing. Even now, I dislike people touching me like this.

  
‘While I would prefer that you live for yourself, I understand that this is what your like.’ He chuckles. ‘I hope that you can find your own happiness eventually. What would you like me to call you now?'

 

‘Rei, my name may be Tsunayoshi now, but I want at least you to remember my name.’

  
‘Ok, I’ll remove the seal now. You will probably pass out afterwards.’ He pulls me back from his embrace and I nod. ‘close your eyes.’ I follow his instruction. I can feel his hand travel to right over my heart. And suddenly something inside me breaks, my eyes snap open and everything is covered in a brilliant orange fire. That cold, freezing void is finally filled. And the last thing I see before collapsing into Ruha’s arms is his shocked expression.


	2. Chapter 2

     Waking up the second time was far less jarring, for obvious reasons. I groan as I shift over to my side and open my eyes.

     ‘Rei?’ He is hovering by the side of my bed with a worried expression on his face. I sit up. He looks torn between help me up and pushing me back into the bed. But in the end just lets me do what I want.

     ‘Ruha’ He sighs in relief. ‘What was that?’ He rubs his face looking tired.

     ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting you to suddenly explode in fire like that when I removed the seal. It must be this worlds power. The old man was probably just trying to seal the fire but ended up sealing Tsuna’s soul as well not fully realizing how closely they are linked to each other.’

     I nod in understanding. So while our world had spirits and contracts, this world has this fire that’s linked to a person’s soul.

     ‘None of Tsuna’s memories show any one using this fire before his were sealed. They must not be common knowledge like spirits were in our world.’

     ‘Most likely. They are also probably why the world felt the need to replace him.’ 

     ‘So they are stronger than average’ I sigh. ‘How long have I been asleep anyways?’

     ‘Little over and hour.’ Looking around the room, I become confused. Nothing is burnt. Nothing looks like it has even been moved. The confusion must shown on my face because I hear Ruha laugh at me.

     ‘Your flames didn’t burn for some reason. I’m sure they are perfectly capable of doing so, however. But they felt…’ He pauses for a second. ‘Warm, comforting, welcoming I guess is the best way to describe them.’

     We abruptly stop talking as we hear someone approach my door. I glance at Ruha and he quickly disappears just Tsuna’s mother opens the door. I guess she is my mother no too. I think guiltily. Hopefully, she’ll never realized that her son is gone, I wouldn’t want to put her through that kind of grief. Her face lights up with relief when she sees me sitting up in my bed.

     ‘Tsu-kun! Your awake!’

     ‘Mama? What happened?’ I asked with a confused look on my face.

     ‘You must have worn yourself out playing with Papa and his boss. You were sleeping for a long time.’ I tilt my head

     ‘I was?’ She nods

     ‘Are they still here?’ I ask.

     ‘No, they had to leave shortly after you fell asleep.’ She’s still smiling, but there is a sadness lurking behind it. It seems my father is basically never home. This is the first time in Tsuna’s memory that he has. I get up and pull on her hand to get her to look at me.

     ‘Don’t worry Mama! Papa will be home soon! And Tsu-kun will take care of you while he’s gone!’ A laugh escapes her, and I smile widely at her. It seems I was able to cheer her up.

     ‘That’s right Tsu-kun will protect me, right?’

     ‘Mmn!’ I agree. She grabs me under my arms and picks me up. I consciously keep my body relaxed, so she doesn’t notice somethings wrong.

     ‘Are you hungry?’

     ‘I’m hungry, really hungry!’

     ‘Ah then it’s a good thing that I finished making dinner huh’ She carries me down stairs to the kitchen, were she places me down on a chair.

     ‘Itadakimasu!’ We start to eat. This, this is probably one of the best things I have ever eaten. And while I’m still feeling guilty about taking the place of her son, I can’t help but to feel happy that I will get to eat her cooking every day.

     ‘It’s good you weren’t getting sick, I was afraid that you would miss you first day of school.’ She casually says I freeze with my spoon half way to my mouth.

     ‘School?’ I ask.

     ‘You are almost 6, so I signed you up for school. You start in a couple of days. Aren’t you excited?’

     ‘Yeah!’ I beam at her with false enthusiasm.

     It was at this moment I realize that I may have miscalculated. Just a bit. Tsuna may be an important person, but right now, he’s just a normal kid. And normal kids go to school. So, an 18-year-old shoved into a 5-year old’s body is going to be attending the 1st year of elementary school. That-- that’s just great. I get the feeling I’m going to want to strangle someone by the end of this. Granted I could just skip a bunch of grades but becoming a child genius is more trouble than its worth. That comes with expectations and pressure and a whole lot of annoying people. So, its best to aim for average, maybe a little above. But that means I’m going to have to go through everything—again. This is going to _suck._

* * *

 

     A few days later finds Mama walking me to school, and while I’m humming and skipping while holding her hand, inside I can’t find any motivation or enthusiasm. Ruha, that asshole, laughed at me when we were alone again. I may have been ignoring him since then as retaliation. No one claimed that I wasn’t petty. The dread just continues to build as we approach the gates. Is it too late to run? Even if I did, I would definitely either get pick up by the police like some lost child or become a target for a pedophile. There’s no choice, I conclude. We finally reach the gates of what will become my prison, and Mama lets go of my hand.

     ‘Be good and make lots of friends ok? Ask the man at the front of the door where your class is ok?’

     ‘Ok Mama’ I run off while waving at her. ‘Bye!’

     I quickly find my class after asking the man at the door and sit in my assigned seat. Other kids slowly trickle into the class room. Soon class starts, and I prepare myself for the worst.

* * *

 

     The lunch bell rings, signaling the end of the first half of the day. Quickly, I grab the lunch that Mama made me and rush out of the class room. That may have earned me some strange looks, but I am beyond caring at this point. _Sometimes,_ I think, _I really hate being right._ School is just as horrible as I thought it would be. Like I expected, it is incredibly slow and boring. What I wasn’t prepared for were the _children_ , if they could even be called that. It may just be that fact that I can’t even recall a time where I was allowed to act like a child, but I was not prepared for the amount of stupidity present. Seriously, why would you try to color your tongue purple with a marker? I refuse to be around them longer than I absolutely have to. Maybe the roof will be empty. I reach to top of the stairs and push open the door to find that someone else is already there. It seems like he had the same idea as me, he glances back at me and I wave at him before walking a distance away from him.

     ‘What are you doing up here?’ It is not so much a question, as it is a demand.

     ‘Escaping my classmates’, I say as I plop my self down and open my bento. Ohh~ my favorites. I glance back up at him. ‘They’re annoying.’

      He makes this snorting kind of noise, that I think was him laughing, before he turns away and leaves me to my lunch. And a comfortable silence continues through out lunch. The warning bell goes off and I pack up my stuff. He makes no motion to get up and leave, but hey, if he wants to skip, who am I to stop him? I tempted to join him.

     ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ I call out over my shoulder, as I make my way back to my class. He doesn’t answer me, but I wasn’t really expecting one. Unknowingly to me, that was the beginning of our very strange friendship.


	3. Chapter 3

      It carries on like this for the next couple days, suffering through classes, escaping and eating lunch with Hibari Kyouya, who’s name I found out from my classmates. It seems that everyone is too terrified to even be near him. He apparently likes to ‘bite people to death for disrupting the peace.’ I’m hoping that means he just beats people up. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with me eating lunch in his general vicinity. And seeing as he hasn’t talked to me since that first day, I’m going to go with him letting me do what I want as long as I don’t bother him. He doesn’t ever have lunch though, maybe I’ll bring him one tomorrow.

     It’s when I’m walking home that I can feel someone following me, well, 2 someone’s. One of them is Hibari, and while this is new, he must have seen the other person. I quickly turn into the next alley I come across hoping to lead them somewhere more deserted. Taking care of this in public would attract way more attention than I’d want. Once I’m sure that no one will accidently stumble across us I drop my bag and start messing around with some of the garbage left lying around. It doesn’t take very long for a tall man in a suit to block of the alleys only entrance.

     ‘What are you doing kid?’ I flinch like he had startled me, turning to look at him, I can tell that he doesn’t have any good intentions.

     ‘I’m looking for treasure!’ I beam at him. ‘Last week I found this really cool robot!’ I tilt my head. ‘are you looking for treasure too mister?’

     He nods as a disgusting smile spreads across his face. He walks closer to me. ‘Yea, I am. I found it pretty easily too!’

     ‘Really? What is it?’ I ask excitedly. Ahh, he’s either trying to kidnap me or kill me. I’m not good at hand to hand. There never was a need for it in my last life, and this body isn’t exactly built for it. But well, I have other methods. I take a quick glance to where I know Hibari is hiding and smile. Based on the rumors about him, I don’t have to worry about protecting him. He would probably take offense to that.

     The man coldly laughs. Still approaching, hands hanging loosely by his side, he lunges at me. Or were he thought I was at least. He instead ends up falling to the ground face first at my feet. I totally messed with his perception of space, so he is not able to accurately determine where I am.

     ‘Hahaha, I was the treasure?! That’s really nice of you mister, but you can’t keep Tsu-kun! I shake my head. ‘Mama’s waiting for me at home!’ He pushes himself up and glares daggers at me. Why are you looking at me like that? Did you really think I was that stupid?

     ‘What did just do kid?’ ‘What?’ I asked like I was confused. ‘We were playing tag, weren’t we? You’re still it.’ I run off to one side of the alley as I yell ‘you’ve gotta catch me!’A look of understanding comes across his face.

     ‘Of course, then here I come.’ When he lunges at me again, I quickly side step out of the way. He crashes into the wall at full force. With his face. I wince when he goes limp and falls to his back. His face is all bloody and it looks like he knocked himself unconscious. I kick his shin. Yup definitely unconscious. I don’t feel guilty though, he had it coming. But this leaves me with a problem. What do I do with an unconscious body? Hibari chooses now to make his presence known leaping down from the balcony he had been perched on.

     ‘Hibari-san. Did you enjoy the show?’ I ask as I continue to prod the guy with my foot. I did expect for him not to answer. I didn’t expect to only nearly dodge a tonfa to the face. ‘What was that for?!’ I yell at him. My only response is a blood thirsty grin and another swing. I stop trying to think _what the hell is actually happening_ and focus on _not_ getting beat up today. I’m able to dodge his strikes and even get a few sloppy kicks in, before I reach the limit of my pitiful endurance and take a tonfa to the stomach. I collapse on my back and just lay there trying to catch my breath after the wind got knocked out of me. I’m going to feel that in the morning. Hibari appears in my vision and I half expect him to try and hit me again. But instead it becomes a stare off. Neither of us look away. Hibari then nods to himself like he has just solved some great mystery and stalks off to the unconscious guy. He lifts him up and throws him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. And leaves me lying in there as I sit up and watch him leave.

‘What the _hell._ ’ I murmur. Not really understanding what just happened. _Well_ , I think, _at least he took care of the body problem_. I frown. This better not become a theme.


	5. Chapter 4

      It did. That was only the beginning, and it only escalated from there. Both in people trying to kidnap me, and Hibari appearing to beat me up before stalking off with the unconscious body of my newest victim. Apparently, my appearance just screams _please kidnap me._ I’m not going to even try and figure out how Hibari always finds me.

_He’s totally stalking me_. That traitorous part of my mind supplies. But I’m going to ignore that. Because if I don’t acknowledge it, it’s not happening.

But what is getting harder and harder to ignore is that annoying gut feeling that something bad is going to happen. While this would normally be a very useful tool to avoid the strange men that seem to be coming out of the wood work to kidnap me, the feeling _won’t go away_ until their unconscious and Hibari takes them away.

     It also seems to act up when people lie to me. But people lie far more often than I ever wanted to realize. So, it’s _always_ going off at something. And it is becoming to be extremely irritating and distracting to have a part of your mind that just won’t _shut up_. Ruha and I have no idea how it works, but we both agree that it’s probably linked to my flames, and something needs to be done to reign it in.

     Speaking of which it is going off now trying to warn me about the man who has been following me. I turn down an alley. He doesn’t wait and tries to grab me, but I quickly side step him. He stumbles but quickly regains his balance and sends me a condescending smirk. Its at that point I realize that he wasn’t alone, but it was already too late. There’s a sharp hit against the back off my neck and the world falls away.

* * *

 

Kyouya

     I have recently come across an interesting baby carnivore. He seems to attract the attention of many herbivories. There is at least one a week, sometimes more, but he takes care of them with ease.

     The first time was a bit surprising, I hadn’t realized that he already had fangs. But that care free smile as he led that herbivore around in circles showed he knew exactly what he was doing. He doesn’t now how to clean up after himself yet though, and he still needs to sharpen his fangs. So as an older carnivore, it is my responsibility to teach him. I spar with him before dropping the herbivore at the police station. He hides his fangs well, but when I looked into his eyes, I could see them lurking beneath the surface ready to lash out. Normally, I would find cleaning up after him to be irritating. But I can’t seem to bring myself to care. He will be a force to be reckoned with in a few years, and I’m inpatient with anticipation. I want to see what kind of changes this baby will bring when he grows up.

     I have taken to observing him, and there are things that are… off about him. He occasionally will tilt his head like he is listening to something only he can hear. And he knows when people are watching him. He always looks at were I’m perched with this kind of resigned look on his face... its kind of cute.

     But he got careless this time. We both did. Neither of us thought that the newest victim wasn’t alone. It seems they got smarter and complied information from prior failed attempts. They had sent two people after him and another three herbivores to pin me down. When I saw him get knocked out, it distracted me long enough for one of the herbivores to knock me down. Another one quickly placed a sweet-smelling cloth over my face. Struggling under their grip, I can feel my consciousness slipping. The last thing I can remember is one of the herbivores slinging me over his shoulder.

* * *

 

                Consciousness returns suddenly to me. Quickly I sit up and take in my surroundings. I frown. It’s a dingy room but there are no windows and the door looks like it is solid metal. I pat my sides looking for my tonfas, but they aren’t there. They aren’t completely stupid then. A soft moan draws my attention to the other side of the room. Curled up in a ball with his back to me is the baby carnivore, he must just now be beginning to wake up. I cautiously approach him, it wouldn’t be a good idea to startle a carnivore.  He moans again and flips over. He rapidly blinks his eyes I stop were I am while he gets reoriented. It takes a few seconds before he recognizes me.

                ‘Hibari-san? Where are we?’ he asks rubbing the back off his neck as he sits up.

                ‘I don’t know. We were careless.’

                ‘I see’ He quietly sits there deep in thought. ‘What should we do?’

                ‘There’s no choice, we can’t get out of this room. We have to wait for them to come back.’

                He nods ‘No choice huh, well maybe I’ll be able to figure out why they keep coming after me.’

                I must agree that it is odd, that they seem to be solely going after him. There haven’t been any other kidnappings reported in the area, but at least once a week someone comes after him.

                Luckily, we aren’t left waiting for very long. They must have set up cameras in the room. The two men that jumped him enter the room with a smug look on their face. I scowl, irritation rising. I really want to wipe that look of his face. The baby carnivore stands up and glares at them.

                ‘Who are you? What do you want with us.’ he demands. The two men flinch back at the intensity of his stare. But remind themselves that they are the ones in control of the situation.

                ‘Hahaha, not so tough now that we finally got you huh.’ One of them taunts. ‘You want to know what we are going to do? We are going to ransom you for money, and once we’ve milked you for all your worth, we’ll kill the both of you.’

                ‘What are you talking about?’ The other one asks, ‘look how pretty they are, someone will pay handsomely for them.’ They both laugh.

                I lunge forward to try and beat them up. But the baby carnivore grabs my wrist and stops me. I turn back to look at him. His eyes are hidden by his hair and his entire body is shaking. But I can feel the murderous intent leaking off him.

                ‘What, are you scared little boy? No ones going to save you now.’ He taunts, oblivious to the growing blood lust.

                ‘Its all the same.’ He mumbles. ‘It doesn’t really matter where I am.’ He looks up and his eyes are glowing molten gold. The room goes completely silent the two men finally realizing they weren’t the ones in control, they never were. ‘I thought it’d be different this time. But over and over again, I’m reminded just how disgusting humans really are. I got complacent.’ He lets go of my wrist as I watch in awe.

                ‘I’ll have to fix that.’ His voice seems to be overlapping with another now. Wind whips around with us at the center. The men try to run but the door slams shut before they could reach it.

                ‘What are you scared little boys? No one will save you now.’ He ruthlessly throws back their words. They start to beg for their lives.

‘Just tell me why you keep coming after me’

                The both stumble over their words trying to explain. All that’s important is that the baby carnivore’s father is high up in a mafia family called the Vongola and they thought that by kidnapping him, they could get a lot of ransom money.

                ‘Thank you for telling me’

                ‘Then you’ll let us go?’ one of them asks hopefully.

                ‘Hmm, when did I ever say that?’ He mercilessly crushes their hope. Golden chains appear from nowhere and pierces through them. They fall like puppets that had their strings cut. ‘Come on Hibari-san’ He calls snapping me out of my daze. ‘We need to get the rest before they can escape.’ He rips open the door with his chains. I take one last glance at the men on the ground, blood pooling around them, before I follow him.

                I can’t help the blood thirsty smile that comes over my face. He wasn’t a baby at all. Just sleeping. And now that he has woken up, I get the feeling nothing will, no nothing _can_ , stop him. I shake with anticipation. I can’t wait.

               


	6. Chapter 6

Kyouya

                I follow him as he continues to carve a path of carnage, his face is blank, like he’s not really here and is just functioning on autopilot. But no one is able to escape from him. The screams soon end as he takes out the last person. In only a few minutes, he has completely decimated their base. Blood is splattered across his face and body and the chains disappear. He just stands there in the middle of what’s become a bloody battlefield with unseeing eyes. His eyes fade back to his normal caramel as he glances up at me. I can’t help but freeze under the pressure of his gaze. It’s like he’s looking right through me. Closing his eyes, seemingly content with what he’s found, he collapses to his knees.

                ‘I’m sorry’ Its barely audible. ‘I lost control.’

                ‘What are you apologizing for?’

                ‘I killed them. I know I shouldn’t have. I was so, so _angry_. Angry at them, angry at myself for becoming complacent. Even though I know perfectly well what humans are capable of.’ He opens his eyes again and they are like broken glass. ‘I’m tired Hibari-san. I want to believe in people. I really do. But every time I do, they are either cruelly taken from me. Or they betray me.’ He looks up at the ceiling. ‘I was done. I finally accomplished everything I wanted to do. I was _done._ ’ He laughs, it sounds hollow and broken. ‘But here I am again. It just wasn’t enough; the world just keeps taking and taking.’ He’s getting more and more desperate sounding as he continues. ‘When will it be enough?!’ he screams, panting as he curls in on himself.

                Slowly I approach him making sure that I am always within his line of sight. I frown. Someone forced a weight on him and forced him to carry it whether he want to or was able to or not.

                I crouch down in front of the him. And slowly reach out, giving time for him to move away if he wants. He looks at me with wariness but doesn’t move away. Gently I pet his hair.

                ‘You did a good job. You can stop now.’ And with that he just completely breaks down. I continue to awkwardly pet his hair and let him. We stay like this for quite some time. Completely ignoring the world around us. He eventually, passes out from exhaustion.  At some point he had grabbed on to my shirt like it’s a life line, so I awkwardly pick him up. He’s light I notice. My eyebrows crease. Too light. Now that I can see his face, I can see the dark bags under his eyes. This will need to be addressed later. Right now, I need to take care of the situation. I look around and find our things on a table in what looks to be a break room. I grab my phone and start making the necessary calls.

                ‘Tetsuya’

                ‘Kyo-kun? What do you need?’

‘Send a car and a clean up crew to my location.’

‘I’ll send them right away, I’m coming to pick you up. Are you injured?’

‘No.’

‘Right I’ll be there in 10’

I hang up and gather our things. Soon after we make it out of the building Tetsuya arrives with the cleanup crew.

‘Kyo-kun’ Tetsuya jogs up to us, and glances confusedly at the carnivore in my arms. ‘Do you want me to take something?’ I can tell that he’s curious, but he’ll leave it for now.

‘Grab his bag. I’m taking him home with me. Notify his mother.’ He nods

We get in the car. He can tell that I’m in no mood to hold a conversation and just leaves me be. Without my noticing I start to pet his hair again. His words play over and over in my head. And things just don’t align the more I think about it. I researched him after he caught my interest on the roof that day. He feels a lot older than his physical appearance, and a scowl when that brings up memories of the annoying carnivore. That doesn’t even take into account the strange powers he has. I may never find out what happened, but he’s _mine_. I won’t allow anyone to hurt him anymore.

The car stops interrupting my thoughts. He is still completely passed out and doesn’t react at all as I bring him into my house or set him down on my bed. I start to check him over for injuries, I doubt he actually has any, but it is better to make sure. I pause when I lift up his shirt, its not an injury, but right above his heart is a horrible looking birthmark. It looks like lightening, patterns spreading outward from what looks like a hole in the center. I lightly brush my fingers against it and he moans in discomfort. I move away and give him space as he comes around.

‘Hibari-san?’ He looks at me ‘I feel like we’ve done this before.’

I huff at him. Silly carnivore.

‘What’s with my shirt?’ He asks pulling it down as he sits up.

‘Making sure you weren’t injured.’

                ‘I see’ He looks down at his hands in disgust. They are still covered in dirt and blood. ‘Any chance I can borrow your bath?’

                I nod. He slowly gets out of bed and follows me to the bathroom. It’s already full so, Tetsuya must have filled it before he left. Pulling off my shirt I turn to him.

                ‘Well?’ raise my eyebrow.

                ‘I—I didn’t realize that you were bathing too.’ He pulls down the hem of his shirt and looks away from me.

                ‘I already saw it.’  He gapes at me trying to say something, but I turn away and continue undressing. ‘Hurry up.’

                Hesitantly he begins to undress. I tie a towel around my waist and throw another one behind me without looking before I enter the bathroom. He enters a minute later looking uncomfortable.

                ‘Sit down’ I point to the stool. Realization comes across his face

                ‘nonononono, I can do it myself.’  He desperately waves his hands.

                ‘Sit down, you’ll miss some.’

                He looks torn, but eventually relents and sits down.

                ‘Stay where I can see you. I—I don’t like people touching me.’

                I nod and gently start to scrub the blood and grime off his face. His whole body is tense, but he lets me do what I want.

                ‘My name is Tsuna. I never actually introduced myself.’

                ‘Kyouya.’

                ‘You want me to…?’ I send him a level glare. ‘Ok, ok Kyouya. Happy.’ He pouts.

                ‘Hn’ Satisfaction fills me. I continue onto his hands and arms, they seem to have gotten the worst of it.

                ‘I’m sorry about before.’

                ‘No need.’

                ‘But I—’ I grab his chin and make him look at me.

                ‘I said no need. _Your mine_. I won’t let you go anymore.’ He freezes unsure of how to handle that. ‘I won’t leave you alone.’ I assure him. Tears escape from his eyes. But it’s different from the desperate sobbing from earlier.

                ‘I-I’ll hold you to that.’ He chokes out. I am completely caught off guard by the smile he gives me. Its fragile, but it’s the most breathtaking I’ve ever seen. I feel something settle in my soul, and warmth fills me.

                _Yes_ , I decide as I let my forehead rest on his. Reveling in the warmth. _I will never let him go._

 

 

**Hey everyone! After this chapter I plan to skip forward to Reborn’s arrival, I feel like this is a good place to leave their relationship for now. Thanks for all the support!**


	7. Chapter 6

Tsuna

                It’s been 7 years since the day that incident. Kyouya has done his damnedest to wedge himself into my life after that. He was, and still is extremely over protective of me. He didn’t let me out of his sight for 3 months afterwards. I admit that it comforted me to know he was always there.

That incident had brought me right to the breaking point. Before that, I was in a state of denial. I understood that I was given another chance at life, but I had never really accepted or understood what that meant. At some point, I forgot how to do anything other than survive. No, it’s more accurate to say I never knew. But slowly, I was able to come to terms with being reborn. There are still things I’m weary of, but they are things so deeply engrained, I don’t think I will ever be able to let them go. It’s the reason that even now, the only friend I have is Kyouya. Though Kyouya might have something to do with that as well. Everyone is terrified of him, and me by extension.

                His version of overprotection, however, also involves him randomly appearing and attacking me.  Often at inopportune times. Those poor, poor shop owners, and teachers. Though admittedly, my hand to hand has drastically improved.

                ‘Tsu-kun!’ Mama calls ‘Breakfast is ready!’

                ‘I’ll be right down!’ I finish packing up the rest of my school supplies, and head down stairs.

                ‘Ah, Tsu-kun! Look at what I found in the mail this morning.’ She hands me a flyer.  _Will tutor your child to become the next generations leader._

                ‘It looks like a scam’ I say incredulously. It really isn’t helping matters that my intuition started going off the second I saw the flyer. Whatever it is, it can’t be anything good.

                ‘I already called him.’ She admits ‘I’ve always wanted to get you a tutor, you seem so bored with school.’

                I can’t really argue against that. Nothing is we have learned in school is new, or interesting. I spend most of class just doodling in my notebook.

                ‘When’s he coming’ I sigh resigned. There’s no getting out of this. The doorbell rings.

                ‘That should be him now.’

                ‘Already? I’ll get the door Mama.’

                I stand in front of the door, resigned to my fate. ‘Let’s get this over with.’

                I open the door and move out of the way in one fluid movement. A black blur flies through and lands on the floor.

                ‘Caiossu, I am Reborn the home tutor. I have arrived 3 hours early to assess you.’

                My first thought when I got a good look at him, was _why is this my life._ Because, In the entryway, is a baby in a suit and a fedora. And it just gets better, cause I’m certain that this is a full-grown man trapped in the body of a toddler. Nothing can be normal can it.

                I let out a sigh. ‘It’s nice to meet you Reborn. I’m Tsuna. Mama just finished making breakfast if you’d like to join us.’

                Reborn is taken aback by my lack of reaction, but it hardly shows on his face. ‘Sure’ he responds.

                He leaps onto my shoulder and I momentarily tense up. I wasn’t expecting him to do that and I’m sure that he’s noticed. He doesn’t mention it, so I go on pretending it didn’t happen.

                ‘Mama, the home tutors here.’

                ‘Caiossu, I’m Reborn’

                ‘Reborn-san, please, call me Mama. Tsu-kun’s been so bored with school lately, I hope you’ll be able to teach him something that catches his interest.’

                 He nods, ‘I’m sure I’ll be able to. I’d like to talk to Tsuna before breakfast in private if you don’t mind.’

                ‘Of course! Tsu-kun, why don’t you take him up to your room.’

                ‘Mn, come on its this way.’

                Once we are in front of my door. My intuition goes off again. I have a sinking suspicion on what I’ll find. I open the door, and on the floor in the middle of the room is an unconscious man. I just sigh. I’m doing that a lot today a realize.

                ‘Tsuna.’

                ‘Yeah,’ I answer irritated, grabbing my phone out of my pocket.

                ‘Why is there an unconscious man in your room.’

                ‘Kyouya likes to leave me presents. I’m not entirely sure what he did, but he probably insulted me or something.’

                ‘Does this happen often?’

                ‘Unfortunately.’ I sigh.

                I dial Kyouya’s number and he picks up right away.

                ‘Kyouya.’

                ‘Tsuna.’

                ‘Would you like to explain why there is an unconscious man in my bedroom again?’

                The silence is on the other end is telling. He’s sulking. He may vehemently try to deny it. But Hibari Kyouya is _sulking_. Reborn jumps off my shoulder and starts to look around my room.

                ‘Kyouya.’ I admonish.

                ‘They were making plans to attack you.’

                ‘I see, thank you for taking care of that, but that doesn’t explain, _why is he in my room_. Wait,’ I pause. ‘You said they. Kyouya.’ He doesn’t answer, and I can just imagine shuffling around like a petulant child. ‘Kyouya. _Where’s the other one_.’ 

                Reborn stops looking around and seems to be very interested in our conversation.

                ‘So help me Kyouya, if I have to go searching through the house to find it.’

                ‘Hn’ is his only response.

                ‘Its in the bathroom isn’t it.’ I ask exasperated.  

                ‘Hn.’

                I sigh. ‘I’ll just see you at school. I’ll most likely be late since I apparently need to make a side trip to the police station.

                ‘Hn’

                ‘Kyouya, I’m not leaving delinquents in my house with my mother. I’ll talk to you later.’ I hang up before he can respond.

                ‘Sorry about that, Kyouya, how do I describe him? I pause ‘I guess it’s best to think of him like a cat. Granted a bigger and more violent version.’

                ‘How long have you known each other?’ He seems more amused than anything. He follows me as I walk into the bathroom to find the other on draped over the side of the tub.

                ‘I was 6, he was 8.’ I answer grabbing the guys ankle and dragging him to the top of the stairs. I head back in my room and grab the other one. ‘He took to stalking me soon after we met. After that, I just couldn’t get rid of him.’ Reborn jumps back onto my shoulder. I don’t tense this time since I expected it. I drag them down the stairs not caring that they hit their heads on every step.

                ‘Mama Kyouya left me presents. Can I get breakfast to go?’

                ‘Of course. Just give me a minute’

                I grab the bentos and put them in my bag. ‘Thanks Mama! I’m leaving’ I call out as I drag them out the front door. Reborn is still on my shoulder so I’m assuming that he’s coming with me.

                ‘Tsunayoshi-sama!’ Someone calls out from behind me. Looks like Tetsuya had the foresight to send one of Kyouya’s minions to collect them. ‘I’ll take them from here.’

                ‘Thank you’ I smile at him dropping their ankles. ‘I really appreciate it.’ I walk away leaving the poor guy in a daze. Well that’s one problem solved. I glance at Reborn. Now for the other one.

                ‘What was it you wanted to talk to me about before we were interrupted?’ He leaps of my shoulder and lands facing me on the fence in front of us. That smug look on his face really irritates me.

                ‘Allow me to introduce my self again. I am Reborn the Greatest Hitman in the world. I have come to make you a mafia boss.’

‘What.’ Please. Please let me have misheard him.

‘I will tutor you to become a mafia boss.’

_Damn it._


	8. Chapter 7

Reborn

                My new student isn’t what I expected. He’s not even comparable to the nonsense Iemitsu gave me. Timid? Not athletic or good at school? Where exactly is he looking? The only reaction he had to finding unconscious men in is house is resigned exasperation. The situation was handled swiftly as well. And someone who isn’t athletic, wouldn’t be able to drag two full grown men out of the house with minimal effort. Iemitsu clearly doesn’t know his son as well as he thinks he does. The closest thing he got to right is that he has no friends. But even that isn’t completely true. It sounds like Hibari’s been his friend for years, and that boy waiting outside basically worshiped the ground he walked on.

                But the biggest difference is his flames. Nono informed me that they had been sealed when he was 5. But even a few blocks away I could feel his flames. They are probably some of the strongest and purest flames I’ve ever felt.

                ‘I’m going to assume the other heirs died.’ Breaking me out of my thoughts. I jump back on his shoulder and he continues onto school. Tsuna rubs his face looking tired.

‘Enrico was killed in a gun fight, Massimo drowned and Frederico left only bones behind.’ I confirm. Visibly he doesn’t react, and I can’t help but feel anticipation. He will certainly be more interesting to train than Dino was. ‘Your taking this better than I thought you would.’

‘What? Did you expect screaming or something?’ He chuckles humorlessly. ‘What’s the name of the family?’

‘Vongola’ He groans.

‘My luck is the _worst.’_

‘You know about it?’ This is a surprise I was certain he had no relation to the mafia.

‘Just the name. I heard it mentioned a couple times by the people that used to try and kidnap me every other day when I was younger.’

‘Kidnapped?’ There was nothing about that mentioned. What the hell is Iemitsu doing!?

‘They stopped after…’ He trails off lost in his thoughts.

‘Tsuna?’

He snaps out of it. ‘They stopped trying after a while. I’m not sure why.’

It’s a lie, but I’ll let it go for now. Whatever happened, probably broke the seal. Something had put him in such dire straits that he forced the seal open on his own. The will power that’s needed to do that, is beyond most people. But this also means I need to reformulate my plans. Hibari is probably a guardian, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he was pulling in others. Since he is clearly active, I can skip the dying will bullets and go straight into teaching how to control them. Though, I’m a little disappointed about that. The school gate comes into sight and Hibari is eyeing the crowd like a hawk. They scramble into the building, hoping to avoid a confrontation with the violent perfect. He notices us and stalks over.

‘Tsuna. Who is that.’ His whole body is tense volatile cloud flames surging just beneath the surface. But this confirms that he is in fact Tsuna’s guardian.

Tsuna, completely ignores this and continues into the building. This simple action causes everyone of the people around to suddenly pale dramatically.

‘You aren’t going to talk to him?’

‘Hmm’ He tilts his head ‘The best way to discipline a misbehaving cat is to ignore them.’ He informs me.

‘Oh? And why are your class mates acting like it’s the end of the world.’

‘When I ignore Kyouya he tends to get… twitchy.’ He gives me a closed eye smile. ‘And a twitchy Kyouya, is a violent Kyouya. Watch by the end of the day they’ll have elected a sacrifice to come and convince me to forgive him.’

A chuckle escapes me.

 ‘Though I swear he does stuff like this on purpose. How did he put it?’ He taps his chin ‘A carnivore needs to show the herbivores where their place in the food chain is.’  He shakes his head. We reach his classroom when I jump off.

‘I’ll meet you after class.’

He nods ‘When you run into Kyouya, tell him I’ll explain later.’ He walks away before I can answer.

He has the whole school under his thumb, and I can’t help but think that we will get along just fine.

* * *

 

                The first thing after classes have started is search out the reception room. It would be foolish to go into with faulty info and his only confirmed guardian would be the best place to start. It is curious that he pulled in a cloud first, usually they are one of the last, especially for a classic cloud like Hibari. I find Hibari sulking behind his desk in the reception room.

                ‘Caiossu~’ I jump down, and the response is instantaneous. He tenses up ready to strike and glares at me.

                ‘You were the baby with Tsuna. Who are you.’

                ‘I am his new teacher, Tsuna wants to tell you the details himself.’

                ‘What do you want.’ He accepts that answer but still doesn’t relax. It reminds me a bit of Tsuna. He looked completely relaxed, but he was constantly aware of his surroundings.

                ‘What can you tell me about Tsuna?’

                He contemplates this for a minute before finally answering. ‘He’s a carnivore. But he sleeps most of the time. Its best if you don’t wake him up.’ With that cryptic warning he jumps out the window.

                _Its best if you don’t wake him up, huh._ What exactly happened? This makes me consider that Hibari was involved in whatever caused the seal to break. But it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting any more information on that. They both hold it too close to the chest. I’ll need to earn their trust first.

* * *

 

                I spend the rest of the school day observing Tsuna. He is definitely aware of it, he keeps on throwing not so subtle looks to where I am. I suspect that he’s awakened hyper intuition, or just sensitive to people watching him. Either way it will serve him well in the mafia.

                His prediction from this morning turns out to be right and a boy name Yamamoto Takeshi asks to talk to him. He could be a potential rain gaurdian, his flames on the brink of going active. Tsuna’s are already feeling his out, so it’s probably only a matter of time before they bond. I follow them to behind the gym.

                ‘Haha mad at Hibari-senpai again?’ he smiles.

                ‘Just irritated. I need to talk to him later so don’t worry about trying to convince me to forgive him.’

                ‘Oh, good I’ve got to get to baseball practice then.’ He turns to walk off.

                ‘Yamamoto-san’ Tsuna stops him. ‘Are you alright? I’ll listen to you if you want.’

                ‘What are you talking about? I’m fine.’ He laughs but is obviously caught off guard.

                ‘I don’t mind if you lie to me.’ Tsuna levels a look at him. ‘But at least don’t lie to yourself.’

                Yamamoto can only watch in silence as Tsuna walks away, the happy grin finally slipping into a look of deep thought.

                ‘Tsuna?’ He gives in

                ‘Yes?’

                ‘I-- I haven’t been doing very well in baseball recently. My batting average keeps going down. What do you think I should do? I’ve been practicing more, but it hasn’t helped.’

                ‘I can’t say I know a lot about baseball.’ He admits ‘But perhaps this is your body telling you to take a break. You can only push your body so hard for so long before something has to finally give way.’

                ‘But what about the team? They need me.’

                ‘Baseball is a _team_ sport. If you’re the only one pulling the team up, it’s not much of a team is it.’

                Yamamoto doesn’t seem to know what to say about that. Tsuna certainly got to the heart of the problem.

                ‘Come find me again if you want to talk. I leave you to think about what you want to do.’ Yamamoto doesn’t stop him this time, and once he’s out of sight I leap down to meet Tsuna.

                ‘I need to watch him.’ He says simply. Not at all surprised by my appearance.

                ‘Why?’ Tsuna had given him solid advice. It should have addressed the concerns he had.

                He turns to look at me with an unreadable expression.

                ‘I saw something in him. Something I’d rather not see again.’ Its not until the next day that I find out what that something was and wonder how I missed it. More importantly, why did _Tsuna_ see it.

               


	9. Chapter 8

Tsuna

 I've seen a lot of people like Yamamoto.. The forced cheerfulness, and the sadness hiding in his eyes. It's the look of someone on the brink. Just one more push, and they'll go toppling over the edge. I push the image of a blood covered face gently smiling back. No. Not again. I won't let it happen again. I can only hope that he takes my advice, but I don't think that will be enough, it doesn't take much to push someone over the edge. So caught up in my thoughts I didn't catch the almost concerned look Reborn gave me.

When I saw Kyouya later that day, he took the news of me becoming a mafia boss about as well as I thought he would. By that I mean he was absolutely _ecstatic_. Probably dreaming of all the herbivores he'll get to beat up.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning Yamamoto wasn't there when I got to class. Which is …worrying. Because of baseball practice he's always here before me. A bad feeling settles in my stomach. That feeling was confirmed a few minutes later when a student bursts into the room.

 'Yamamoto's about to jump of the roof!' Before my classmates can even react I've already bolted out of the room. Panting, I slam open the door to the roof. I scowl. There's a whole crowd of people gathered. I force my way through, some of them tried to stop me, but quickly moved out of the way when they saw me.

 'Yamamoto. What are you doing.'  

 He turns and looks at me. 'Tsuna, I should have listened to you. Now my arm's broken and the baseball god's have turned their back on me.' He smiles sadly. 'With out baseball, I'm worthless.'

Suddenly I'm not on the roof anymore. _'Sorry Rei. This is the only way for my life to mean something.'_ His blood-stained face smiling gently at me, as he collapses backwards of the cliff behind him. Desperate I reach out to catch him. But its too late. The last thing I see before the fog hides him, is him closing his eyes, and that ever-present gentle smile.

 

* * *

 

Yamamoto

I don't know why, but breifly a very far away, haunted look appears on his face. The look fades as quickly as it came.

'Leave.' His body is trembling, from fear or anger, I can't really tell. No one moves, unsure if they should listen. Turning he glares at the crowd, 'Leave' he repeats.

 There's no need to repeat it a third time, uncertainty gone, they all start trying to get to the door like their being chased. As the door shuts, he take a shuddering breath to try and calm down. That gaze is soon turned to me. Intense orange eyes that feel like they are looking straight through to my core.

 'Worthless? Your still alive aren't you?'

 'But my arm, I can't play base--'

 'I don’t care about that. Baseball may be important to you, but it’s not worth your life. What about your father?'

 I try to look away, But his gaze pins me in place. 'I--'He gives me no chance to argue, 'Does he really think that your worthless to him if you can't play baseball?'

 'Of course not!'

 'Then why are you here?' I can't answer that, and I realize just how foolish I was for trying to throw my life away like this.

'Are you ready to come back?' His gaze no longer as intense.

'Yea' I begin to climb up over the fence. It creaks under my weight and just as I was about to get my leg over the top, the entire thing just comes off. The world slows, and Tsuna has that look on his face again as he runs over to try and catch me. But, I can tell. He won’t make it. I’m going to die, aren’t I. panic builds. No, just when I decided I wanted to still live. I can’t die!

_Bang_. Just before I pass over the ledge is see Tsuna fall only to have all his clothes except his boxers explode off of him, and orange fire bursts out of him. I lose sight of him for a moment, before he follows me down. ‘Reborn! Save Yamamoto with my dying will!’ He yells the orange in his eyes competing with silver. The wind picks up and I can feel myself slow just enough for Tsuna to grab me. Another burst of flames breaks our fall before we hit the ground.

 I sit there dazed, but unharmed as Tsuna clings to me. The flames on his forehead fade, and he starts to hyperventilate.

 'Tsuna? Tsuna?!' I try to get his attention, but it’s not reaching him. I spot Hibari-senpai advancing towards us with a demonic look on his face. But it slightly fades when he catches sight of Tsuna.

 'Tsuna' He tries, grabbing his shoulder, not having any more luck than I did. With a gentleness I didn't think he had, he drapes his gakuran over him and pries Tsuna off me. Tsuna immediately latches on to him, eyes wide and unseeing, mumbling something I can't make out under his breath. Hibari-senpai shoots me a withering glare, gathering up Tsuna in his arms before stalking off.

 Another, disciplinary committee member comes up to me, tells me to go home and see Hibari-senpai. But it’s all kind of a blur. The look of desperate determination, and _'Your still alive, aren't you_?' dominate my thoughts. My hand moves to over my heart, feeling the fast and steady pulse. Hibari-senpai, is going to bite me to death tomorrow, but right now, I don't care.

  _I'm alive_ , that’s all that ever really mattered.


	11. Chapter 9

Kyouya

 

 He's back in this state. Again. It's happened a few times after the kidnapping, at least that I've seen. It’s never clear what triggers it. One moment all is right with the world, and in the next he’s trembling, mind lost in a place only he can experience. It tears at my very soul to know there is absolutely nothing I can do but let him latch on to me and be there when he comes back from where ever he is.

Anyone we come across quickly gets out of the way, as I carry him through the hallways. A committee member opens the door to the reception room. The door closes behind us as I reposition Tsuna so I can sit down on the couch. He’s still mumbling nonsense under his breath but doesn’t show any signs of waking up anytime soon.

‘Does this happen often?’ Reborn appears from nowhere, gaze focused on Tsuna trembling in my arms.

‘More than it should.’ Gently playing with his ridiculously soft hair, ‘it’s gone on longer than I’ve known him at least.’ I answer his unasked question.

‘This could be a problem.’ It may sound cruel, but he’s worried.

‘It won’t be’

‘If Tsuna is going to be a mafia boss, being vulnerable like this is dangerous.’

‘Yea, dangerous for everyone else.’ I snort, at the ridiculousness. ‘You didn’t see what happened to that guy who tried to kidnap him while he was like this.’ I give him a level stare ‘There was literally nothing left of the guy to bury.’ That unfortunate soul thought he’d gotten lucky when he found Tsuna in a catatonic state. I hadn’t been there, but a committee member informed me he had burst into flames the second he touched Tsuna. He burned until he hadn’t even left ashes behind.  ‘He may look defenseless like this, but I can assure you he’s not. If I were a stranger, I would be dead.’

‘What did he do?’

‘Don’t know.’ I shrug ‘Wasn’t there, I only saw the end result. I’ve never really cared enough to figure out all his abilities.’ Not a lie, but not the full truth either. Tsuna, doesn’t have a clear memory of this and I doubt he’d want Reborn to know.

‘Abilities? You mean dying will flames?’

‘You mean these?’ Lighting purple flames on my fingertips. He nods in confirmation. ‘No, he can do more than just that. You’ll have to ask him though.’ He’s always used them over his flames out of habit. With the danger he’ll eventually be facing, it’s better for Reborn to be aware that Tsuna has other abilities now. Neither of us have a good grasp of what Tsuna is capable of. Nothing we’ve come across has forced him to put for any real effort. This just gives an excuse to be able to use them more freely. Besides, I’ve always wanted to see him pushed to use the full extent of his power.

Tsuna’s breathing has finally evened out and the tension slowly starts to seep out of his body.

‘Tsuna?’ Not stopping my ministrations of my hands in his hair.

‘Kyouya?’ He wearily responds. Mind not quite catching up yet, but I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding when the life came back into his eyes. ‘I’m tired.’ He mumbles burying his face into my chest. Cute.

‘Hmm, then you’re not interested in what happened in what happened to that herbivore?’ I tease. He shoots up, completely awake.

‘Is he alright!?’

‘He’s fine’ I chuckle as he pouts.

‘You’re so mean to me.’ He collapses back onto my lap. ‘As punishment, you are now my pillow.’

‘OK,’ He hasn’t realized yet, I smirk ‘but shouldn’t you get dressed first?’

He slowly looks down to see that he’s only wearing my gakuran and boxers. What an interesting shade of red he’s turned. He grabs the collar of my shirt and shakes me. ‘Kyouya! What happened to my clothes!’

‘Ask your tutor.’ He turns and gives Reborn the look. The one that makes feared yakuza members fold like a wet napkin. I certainly don’t pity him.

‘Reborn. Where are my clothes.’ Reborn looks torn between teasing him and explaining.

‘They exploded.’ So, he decided to do both, by explaining in the vaguest way possible.

‘They exploded.’ Tsuna repeats incredulously, like it would make more sense the second time.

‘Yes.’ He makes no further attempt to explain.

 _‘Why!?’_ Tsuna asks, clearly irritated.

‘Well I’m glad you asked!’ He smirks. ‘You were able to safe Yamamoto with the help of a dying will bullet. The bullet forcefully brings out your flames. It was unclear if you were able to use them at the time, so the safest option was to use the bullet.’

‘Alright, I’m thankful for that. _But why did my clothes explode!?’_ It’s rather satisfying to hear some else get the _I am so done with you_ tone. With the way things are going, I’ll be hearing it more often.

‘Your flames burnt them up.’ While Tsuna’s attention is still on Reborn, I grab an extra change of clothes from my desk drawer.

‘Here. Get changed.’ I toss the clothes at him.

‘Don’t use that bullet again.’ He warns, emotion gone from his voice. ‘It’s unnecessary.’  He leaves before Reborn can respond. He watches the door with an unreadable expression.

‘If you’re thinking of testing him, don’t surprise him.’ He shifts his focus to me. ‘It won’t end well.’

‘I’ve had to change a lot of my plans, he’s not at all what I expected.’ He admits.

‘You’ll learn rather quickly; other people’s expectations mean little to Tsuna.’ I close my eyes. ‘He’s perfectly content to flip the whole world on its head and not even realize what he’s just done.’

* * *

 

Tsuna

Changing into the clothes Kyouya gave me, I pause when I catch sight of scar on the left side of my chest in the mirror. Tentatively, I brush my fingers over it, half expecting to see blood when I pull away. ‘You still have your life. Huh.’ I laugh weakly leaning against the mirror. ‘What a hypocrite.’ I so freely gave a way my life last time. What right do I have to tell someone else that?

But he’s alive, we’re both alive, I remind myself. And I can take solace in being able to save someone. Because I can so clearly remember that desperate feeling of wanting to be saved. _And_ _knowing, knowing that no one ever will._ Because you’re the one carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. There’s no way that someone as strong as you will break. _Right?_


	12. Chapter 10

Tsuna

Yamamoto’s waiting outside my house the next morning when Reborn and I leave the house. Thankfully, he looks lighter now, more settled. I at least don’t need to worry about him.

‘Yo Tsuna!’

‘Yamamoto? Why are you here?’

‘I wanted to thank you. And make sure you’re ok.’

 ‘Isn’t that a question I should be asking you?’ I chuckle.

‘Is this your brother?’ Ignoring the jest, gaze fixed on Reborn.   

                ‘I’m Reborn, the World’s Greatest Hitman. I’m here to tutor Tsuna to become a mafia boss.’ Reborn the little devil, decides to answer before I can.

                ‘Mafia? Is that a game you’re playing? Can I join?’ If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that he was still joking around. But his eyes hold a sharpness that contradicts the easy going smile on his face.

                ‘Of course, Tsuna is looking for members to join his family.’

                ‘Cool! Then I’ll join.’

                ‘Don’t I get a say in this?’

                ‘He’s already become your guardian.’  

                ‘I don’t understand.’ Furrowing my eyebrows. Guardian? What does that have to do with anything.

                ‘Right, I haven’t explained it to you yet. You are aware of the different types of flames, correct?’

                ‘Sky, cloud, rain, storm, sun, lightning and mist, right?’

                ‘Correct. Sky flames are able to attract other types of flames and form bonds with them, skies are considered royalty in the mafia because of this.’ Yamamoto is listening intently but doesn’t seem to be confused on why we are suddenly talking about fire.

                ‘You know about flames Yamamoto?’

                ‘I saw my old man use them before, he never explained it to me.’

                ‘We’ll explain more about that later.’ Reborn cuts us off, before he continues to explain. ‘We call the people that bond with a sky, guardians. Each sky can only typically hold one of each element, but there have been exceptions. Traditionally, it is these guardians’ jobs to protect the sky.’

                ‘So, it’s like a contract then.’

                ‘More or less.’ He agrees. ‘You have already formed a bond with Hibari and Yamamoto. The next step is harmonization.’ He pauses. ‘Harmonization is difficult to explain, the feeling it brings for each person is different.’

                ‘It’s like getting back a piece of yourself you didn’t know you were missing.’ Thinking back to the aftermath of that incident, I can now place that feeling of something clicking into place and my soul settling. It had been the most at peace I’d been since waking up.

                ‘You and Hibari, harmonized? I had suspected as much.’

                ‘Is it strange?’

                ‘A bit’ he admits ‘Usually clouds like Hibari are one of the last guardians found. They are often territorial, independent possessive battle maniacs, so they don’t typically play well with others. Clouds also take the longest the longest to form a bond with. So, it’s surprising that he’s the first one you pulled in, and that you haven’t attracted anyone else in since.’

                ‘Subconsciously, I think I knew he’s what I needed. His constant presence as he stalked me, gave me some piece of mind. He needed me too in away, he’s not nearly as out of volatile as he used to be.’

                ‘Possibly.’

                ‘Speaking of Kyouya.’ I glance at Yamamoto, ‘seeing that you are unbruised and not bleeding, I take it he hasn’t gotten to you yet.’

                ‘Haha, he wanted to see me today.’ He laughs, an excited glint crossing though his eyes and I lament my fate. _Why do I keep attracting these battle crazy weirdos!?_ He has the same type of crazy asKyouya, just much better hidden. Not that Kyouya was even attempting to hide it.

                ‘I won’t stop him, but I will prevent him from going too far.’ I promise.

                ‘Thanks, Tsuna!’ If it was even possible, his smile widens.

                As if summoned by us talking about him, Kyouya swoops down like a bird of prey and attacks Yamamoto. I continue walking, completely ignoring the chaos that’s unfolding behind me. I don’t hear Yamamoto’s happy laughter, or Kyouya’s irritated grunting. And I _definitely_ don’t hear walls giving way to Kyouya’s tonfas.

                ‘Are you sure you shouldn’t stop them?’ Reborn jumps back onto my shoulder when the wall he was walking on ends. I’ve gotten more comfortable with this arrangement recently. He tried sitting on my head once, but it turned me into such a twitching _mess_ , that he hasn’t done it since.

                ‘Why?’ I ask, taking a cursory glance back. Yamamoto is doing better than I originally thought he would, he’s still laughing like he’s having the time of his life as he dodges Kyouya’s strikes. It’s rather sloppy, but still impressive. ‘They’re having fun. Besides, if people are stupid enough to try and get in between Kyouya and his prey, they deserve everything they get.’

                ‘What about property damage?’

                ‘That’s Tetsuya’s problem.’ Effectively pushing off the responsibility to someone else. ‘He may have no hope in trying to reign Kyouya in, but he’s gotten very good at handling the ensuing aftermath.’ Reborn looks like he is thoroughly amused by the situation. It suddenly goes quite behind us. Looks like Kyouya finally got him. One of the minions will collect Yamamoto, so I don’t bother checking on him.

                We walk in companionable silence for a few minutes, Reborn looking like he wants to ask something, but is unsure how.

                ‘You have other abilities besides flames?’ He finally decides on just asking me outright.

                ‘Kyouya told you that, didn’t he.’ I smile wryly. Kyouya knows I prefer to use my contracts out of habit, this is his way of giving me an excuse. While, this isn’t ideal, I knew Reborn would eventually catch on. So far, I’ve been able to keep my use discreet, but that may not always be an option.

                ‘He didn’t tell me more than that.’

                ‘He’s never cared about something like that.’ I tried to explain it to him once, he didn’t let me. He didn’t care that I had them at all. I was enough for him. Reborn looks at me expectantly, but he’s at least not forcing the issue.

                ‘Later,’ I finally concede, and I can’t hide the bone deep weariness in my voice. ‘It’s a long story.’

                Luckily, he drops it after that and goes on telling me about someone he’s called in from Italy that he thinks would be a good fit as my storm. I’m only half paying attention to him though. As I frantically attempt to squash the rising panic as I realize I only have a few hours to figure out what I’m going to tell him.


	13. Chapter 11

Reborn

                Tsuna’s been distracted since I asked about his other abilities this morning. He’s been going through the day in a sort of haze, not really present. A twinge of guilt surfaces for putting him in this state before I crush it. It’s necessary, I remind myself.  It’s dangerous to throw him into situations not knowing what he’s capable of. I was originally planning on having Gokudera testing him, but that would shatter any trust I was able to build.

 Yamamoto walks him home, while Hibari follows unseen. Yamamoto is reluctant to leave, but is eventually convinced, Hibari stays though. He’s more aware of Tsuna’s mental state and is lurking around just in case there’s need of him. At least things are working out between his guardians.

In his room he sits on the bed, while I take a seat on the table. Silence passes for a few minutes while I wait for him to make the first move.

‘Ask what questions you want.’ He states reluctantly. ‘I’ll try to answer them.’ Tsuna looks exhausted, that twinge of guilt is back, harder to push down this time. ‘I will ask though that you keep this information to yourself.’ His eyes lock onto mine, and I know and ultimatum when I see one. If I don’t agree, it won’t matter what I do, he’ll won’t tell me anything.

‘Of course,’ I agree. His eyes don’t leave mine, determining if I’m serious. He nods, giving me permission to start. ‘What are your other abilities?’

‘Most of them are related to the laws of nature.’ Extending his hand in front of him, he calls out. ‘water’, a perfectly formed sphere of clear water appears floating above his hand. ‘Air,’ the water disappears and a small tornado forms. ‘Earth, fire, darkness, and light.’ He quickly cycles though them, a stone, flame, and a ball of light and darkness dance on his outstretched hand. Closing his hand, they disappear.

‘Where do these originate from.’ It’s unbelievable, but they aren’t mist constructs.

‘Spirits. I made a contract with 7 spirits.’

‘A contract?’ I frown, ‘Is there a price?’

‘There’s always a price Reborn.’ He gives me a cheerless knowing look. ‘I’m sure you know that better than most, I doubt you asked to become a baby after all. But it’s not something you need to worry about. It just makes me tired now.’

It’s not particularly surprising that Tsuna figured it out. He’s always had an uncanny awareness of the people around him. ‘What’s the 7th spirit. You only showed me six.’

‘Ruha’s a bit different than the others.’ A pause, ‘I suppose he can be loosely compared to a sky.’

‘Really?’ That’s intriguing. This contract system is strangely similar to the Flames of the Sky, it makes me wonder if there is a relation between the two.

‘Ruha, is known as the Spirit King. He connects the other clans and keeps the balance between them. He sees how things are connected and can create and sever those connections. His power physically manifests as chains.’ Golden chains appear, hypnotically circling him. I hadn’t noticed before, but Tsuna’s normally warm brown eyes, have changed to a molten golden color.

‘Do your eyes, normally change like that?’ He nods, eyes returning to normal as the chains fade.

‘There are other changes as well, depending how much I pull on their power.’

Tsuna’s been honest, more honest than expected. The answers short and to the point, but actual answers. There’s something I’m missing. The level of distress he’s been in all day, and the ease that he’s answering, _just don’t match up._ Not once, I realize, has he mentioned _how_ he come to have these contracts. Cold dread seeps into my bones. His words repeat, _it just makes me tired now._

‘Tsuna, how did you get these contracts?’ I fight to keep my voice even.

Tsuna slumps back against the wall and covers his eyes with his arm, looking thoroughly defeated. He smiles, dejected and resigned, and the guilt can’t be shoved away anymore. ‘Figures you’d notice.’

‘I am the Worlds Greatest Hitman, of course I notice.’ Cautiously, I move to the bed and settle in his lap. He makes no motion to stop me. Normally, this is something I’d refuse to do, its demeaning to be treated like a baby. However, this is something Tsuna _needs_. He may hate being touched, but he _craves_ it from the few people he trusts. As long as he can see them, that is. What that says about his childhood, isn’t something I’d like to think about.

‘I—we—’ His voice trembles, unable to find the right words. Sky flames subconsciously leak out, clearly distressed.

‘Tsuna, you need to calm down.’ If he keeps this up, he’s going to end up in that state again. ‘You don’t need to tell me.’ I can feel Hibari’s agitation outside the window, frankly I’m surprised he hasn’t busted through the window yet.

                Tsuna’s calmed down somewhat, with the assurance I won’t force him. Slowly his arm falls away, and he looks at me. Flames that are usually suppressed under the curse flare angrily. The instinct to _heal him, destroy_ whatever caused him to become like this over takes me for a moment. His eyes are broken. There’s just unending regret and sadness present in them.

                I don’t resist when he reaches down to pick me up, or when he hugs me with such desperate need. I can’t see his face, but its wet—he’s crying.

                ‘I—no we, it’s we—’ He starts again, a little more in control. I run my fingers through his hair like I’d seen Hibari do to calm him down. Patiently, I wait for him to finish. The next part is barely audible, ‘We died.’

                Everything just stops, I can feel Tsuna trembling. Actually, that might be both of us. ‘y-you know that my flames we’re sealed?’ I nod, not trusting my voice at the moment. ‘Flames are a person’s soul, they _ripped Tsuna’s soul_ from him when they sealed his flames.’ His arms tighten around me, anger leaking into his voice. ‘It killed him.’

                ‘Then?’ I urge him gently. Silently pledging to slowly murder Iemitsu and Nono. Did they not research what would happen before they carelessly seal an active flames!?

                ‘I woke up.’ He takes a deep breath. ‘In a body that wasn’t mine, with memories that I didn’t remember.’

                ‘You died.’ I confirm, the weight of the situation breaking through the shock.

                He doesn’t answer just further buries his head. And that’s enough. He died. Probably quite horribly too.

                ‘What was your name?’ I really want to know how he died. But not right now. Not when he’s already so distraught.

                ‘It doesn’t really matter anymore, I’m Tsuna now’ He tries to brush me off.

                ‘It doesn’t change the fact that it is still _your_ name.’ I argue. This kid, what the hell did they _do_ to him for him to have no attachment to his _name_!?

                He puts me back on his lap. Face covered in tears, and puffy red eyes, but he’s smiling. Not like that mockery of a smile from before, but soft and kind. It’s an expression I haven’t seen on his face before. It’s captivating.

                ‘Rei’ breaking me out of my stupor. ‘My name was Rei.’


	14. CS 12

Reborn

                Emotionally exhausted he falls asleep soon after that. I move a piece of his hair out of his face, watching his peaceful sleeping face. Tsuna—Rei, this is going to be annoying, I’ll need to specify what he wants to be called when he wakes up. He’ll probably choose Tsuna.

                Hibari enters the room through the window and slips next to me on the bed. Gently he reaches out and wipes away the wetness on Tsuna’s cheeks.

                ‘Asleep?’

                ‘Mn. You heard?’

                ‘Doesn’t change anything. He was already like this when I met him. I already suspected something like this. He completely lost it once, probably not long after he took over.’

                ‘Do you know anything about who he was?’

                ‘No.’ Shaking his head. ‘I’ll I can make out is someone forced the weight of the world onto him, and it _destroyed him_.’

                I hide my eyes with the rim of my fedora. There’s not much I _need_ to teach him. His flames, and the history of the mafia, but he can handle the rest on his own already. He already has the knowledge of how to lead and manage resources. If nothing else, I can help stabilize his mental state. It will be a slow process,

                ‘What does he plan on doing about Iemitsu and Nono?’ He just gives me a confused look. ‘Tsuna’s dad and the current boss.’ I clarify. I don’t honestly care what happens to Vongola. Whatever he to do decides, chaos is sure to follow. I should at least verify his intentions to make sure that I’m not in the line of fire. A gut feeling tells me that’s the last place anyone would want to be. But my real reason to have front row seats to the show of course.

                ‘Nothing. Iemitsu’s already dead, and Nono’s not worth the effort.’

 Not worth the effort. The Boss of the strongest mafia family _isn’t worth the effort_. I’d have to agree though, the years have not been kind, and he’s slipping. Has been for a while. Sealing an active sky and consequently killing him, just the most recent screw up. The irony doesn’t escape me that the only viable heir, is the one he murdered eight years ago. Tsuna my not be planning to do anything about it, but that doesn’t mean he won’t make a right nuisance of himself.

                ‘Who told you Iemitsu’s dead?’

                ‘Sawada-san. Whenever Tsuna asked, she said he went and became a star.’ His eyes narrow. ‘Is he not?’

                ‘Regrettably he is still polluting the world with his idiocy.’

                ‘He’s not coming near Tsuna.’ He growls.

                ‘I wasn’t planning on letting him. It’d be fun to watch Tsuna take him apart though.’

                The feral grin on his face says he agrees.

                ‘Should I let Tsuna know his useless old man’s alive?’

                ‘Probably.’ He pulls a face. ‘Not sure how’d Tsuna would react if he just appeared someday.’ He pauses. ‘He’d also get angry if he found out we knew.’

                The look on Hibari’s face just says it all. Tsuna’s not really one to beat someone up, he gets way more enjoyment out of embarrassing people. Hibari’s has most certainly been on the other end of Tsuna’s ire, and he’s not eager to be there again.

                ‘Right. I’ll bring it up.’ I tell him. ‘Luckily there are no plans for him to show up any time soon.’

                He nods but doesn’t respond. Taking one last look at Tsuna, he leaves the room the way he entered.

                I reach out to touch Tsuna’s hair but freezes when it dawns on me how I’ve been reacting. I’ve been way too emotional recently, I haven’t even raised chaos yet. It’s not normal, by this time with Dino I had already instilled the fear of God into him. I’ve only ever mildly irritated Tsuna the entire time I’ve been here. Then there’s the overprotectiveness. I haven’t even attempted to throw him into a dangerous situation. I may not have known how strong he was, but that never stopped me before.

Carefully thinking back on all of our interactions, I understand. A low chuckle escapes, I must be slipping if I didn’t notice him pulling me in. What will happen with this bond, I don’t know. The Arcobaleno curse, could be a potential problem, with the way it suppresses my flames, it could potentially prevent harmonization. It’s surprising just how accepting of this bond I am, especially after Luce betrayed us when we were cursed.

My thoughts cut off abruptly as I remember part of Tsuna’s explanation, _He sees how things are connected and can create and sever those connections._ Could—could he brea—no. I forcefully stop that train of thought. After all these years cursed as a baby, it’s better not to get my hopes up. Yes, I will bring it up, but I would rather not have any expectations.

I wouldn’t want to force Tsuna to carry that weight either. Tsuna’s already incredibly broken, he’ll never be able to be normal, I don’t think he ever truly was. He can get better—he is getting better. He’s slowly beginning to let people in, to trust people again. To force such a burden like the Arcobaleno curse onto him? I shake my head, no. If he brings it up, I’ll answer whatever questions He has. I won’t burden him unnecessarily.

I smile to myself as I watch Tsuna peacefully sleep. Maybe, just maybe, everything will work out in the end. That tiny little glimmer of hope, refusing to go out, no matter how hard I try.

‘If nothing else,’ I whisper. ‘He’s a sky I don’t mind residing in.’

 


	15. Chapter 13

Gokudera

 

As I get settled into my new apartment in Namimori, my cell phone rings. Reborn? How did he? Wait no that’s a stupid question. It’s Reborn, of course he would know I got here.

                ‘Hello?’

                ‘Gokudera. I assume everything is set up for tomorrow.’ Straight to the point, huh. I shouldn’t have expected anything less.

                ‘Yes! There are no problems, everything is prepared for tomorrow.’

                ‘Good’ he responds. ‘Now, forget all of that.’

                ‘Eh—but why?’ Surprised, I can’t help but ask. It doesn’t make sense, in the limited time I’ve interacted with him, Reborn’s not the kind of person to drastically change his plans.

                ‘The situations changed. Testing him in that manner won’t work.’ He sounds frustrated? No angry. He’s angry that his plans fell through. Then… did I come here for nothing?

                ‘What do you need me to do?’

                ‘I still plan to introduce you to him.’ I must have sounded worried, He saw right through me. ‘Go to school as planned. But don’t approach him on your own, I’ll introduce him to you.’

                ‘Can I ask why the change?’

                ‘The information I got on him was wrong. Apparently, Iemitsu doesn’t know his son at all.’ He spits out with disgust. ‘The methods I was planning on using, would not go over well.’

                ‘For who?’ I asked confused.

                ‘For anyone.’ That—that was not the answer I was expecting. ‘Tomorrow,’ He continues ignoring my stunned silence. ‘Do not come across as aggressive, more importantly, do not touch him. I won’t be responsible for what happens if you do.’ With that foreboding warning he hangs up.

                I stare blankly at my phone wondering; what kind of person needs that kind of warning? Regardless, he isn’t that useless person we were originally led to believe he was. He forced _Reborn_ of all people to effectively scrap all his plans. This is getting interesting, I can’t wait to find out what kind of person Sawada Tsunayoshi is.

* * *

 

                ‘You’re not what I expected at all.’ This is what slips out of may mouth when I meet him the next day. _This kid_ is going to be the next boss of Vongola? He’s tiny! He doesn’t look more than 10, and his appearance is way to feminine to ever appear intimidating. The person next to him who is glaring at me, is more suited to become a mafia boss than him.

                He starts to tremble, eyes hidden by that ridiculously poofy hair. Shit—did I make him cry?

                ‘I’m s—’ I try to apologize.

                ‘Pfffftt—hahaha!’ But it seems my fears were unnecessary. For some reason he just dissolves into to laughter, I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something. Reborn, looks like he finds this situation hilarious. Tsuna, is now clinging on to the other persons arm in an attempt to keep himself upright. ‘H-hi-his,’ he tries to speak, ‘Kyouya, his _face._ ’

                Kyouya, the other person now identified, just stares at Tsuna with no expression on his face and makes no attempt to remove him from his arm.

                ‘Hahaha.. ah’ He finally gets control over himself and straightens. ‘Sorry, your face just—pft—It was a little obvious you were thinking that I couldn’t possibly become the next boss.’ He explains, wiping away the tears on his face.

                I flush and look away, embarrassed that I was seen through.

                ‘Ahh~ it’s been a while since I laughed like that.’ He studies me with an intensity that makes it feel like I can’t hide anything. ‘Mnnn, Yup I like you!’ He cheerfully exclaims, smiling with a brightness that stuns me in place.

                ‘What?’ I can’t keep up with this conversation at all.

                ‘Tsuna.’ Kyouya intervenes. ‘You need to explain.’

                ‘Right, I like you so I’m going to keep you.’ He simply states, like that explained everything.

                ‘That—I—what?’

                ‘Gokudera-kun, I don’t expect an answer right now, but I would like to be your friend’ His face softens.

                ‘Your friend, not?’ Not part of your family? Is the unspoken question. I can’t help but feel disappointed, he doesn’t need me in his family either.

                ‘Hmm, you’re not really getting it are you.’ He frowns.

                ‘It’s different in the mafia world, friends aren’t very common. Most of the time its just a pretext to get close to someone. Whether it’s for money, power or revenge, friend is often just a convenient word with no real meaning behind it.’ Reborn explains. The soft expression contorts into bone deep weariness.

                ‘That’s, depressing.’ Is the only way he can come up with to answer. ‘But that doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m not from the mafia, their ways of thinking don’t apply to me.’ He completely just writes it off.

                ‘Gokudera’ He calls, that soft expression looking at me again. He meets my eyes and doesn’t look away. ‘I don’t need subordinates, I need friends.’

Stunned, I just stare at him. How long has it been? Since someone has looked at me this way? Without contempt or disgust.  Tsuna continues to hold my gaze, patiently waiting for an answer. I don’t look away, the warmth emanating from him, it just feels so, conforting.

‘I—can I think about it?’

‘Of course,’ he smiles. ‘Come find me when you have an answer.’

They leave, but my focus is solely on Tsuna’s back. He certainly is an interesting one, to discard the mafia’s way of thinking. Though that’s probably due to his civilian upbringing. Over and over, he completely overturns my preconceptions.

 But no one has ever asked to be my friend with such sincerity. It completely threw me of guard. Like Reborn said, friends aren’t really something common in the mafia. So I asked for time to try and make a rational decision. This isn’t something I can just decide in the heat of the moment. But, even with my emotions that were thrown into chaos with his simple offer, I already know my answer.

 

* * *

 

Tsuna

               

                Meeting Gokudera was certainly entertaining. He’ll fit in nicely with the group I’m slowly piecing together. It will probably be a long process to get him to recognize that the mafia’s way of doing things, wasn’t always correct. For a person who grew up in that kind of world, it’s hard not the have your morals and perception become skewed. Luckily, there is still time to intervene in Gokudera’s case, he seems to be more of a loner, so he most likely did not as much exposure to it.

                ‘What do you think’ Reborn inquiries from my shoulder.

                ‘He’s a good fit. There are things he needs to improve though. Mainly, his people skills. I’m not having another Kyouya walking around.’ I state ignoring the irritated glare directed at me.

                ‘Mnn, I think it would be a good idea to test his fighting skills.’

                ‘Right, I’ll deal with that latter if he decides to join.’ It’s not just Gokudera’s skills he wants to see, out of all of us, Kyouya is the only one who skills he knows. Mostly because Kyouya is constantly picking a fight with someone. Reborn also probably has a good idea of Yamamoto and Gokudera’s skills as well. But when it comes to me, he’s completely in the dark. My abilities are out of his scope of knowledge, so he is using this as an opportunity to get a better idea of what I’m capable of. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

                ‘He will’ Kyouya states

                ‘You sound awfully certain about that.’

                ‘You don’t understand the effect you have on people.’ I don’t understand, but Reborn seems to since he’s nodding. I just stare in confusion at the two of them before giving up.

                ‘Anyways, I hope he does,’ I walk in front of Kyouya, so I miss the almost pitying look Kyouya gives, when I say, ‘He’s really fun to tease.’

 


	16. Chapter 14

Tsuna

                ‘You are aware your father is alive right?’ Reborn springs this question on me just as I settle down to do my homework. The pencil in my hand snaps as I turn my attention to him.

                ‘Is that so?’ I grit out, keeping my anger in check. So that useless old man is still alive.

                He nods ‘He’s the one who gave me information about you. Granted it was completely useless.’

                ‘Information, huh?’ I can use this, I smirk ‘What did he say exactly?’

                Reborn is looking forward to what I’m planning, and readily volunteers the information. ‘You were completely useless at academics and sports, clumsy, timid and had no friends.’

                ‘And they still wanted you to make me the boss?’ I asked confused. With that kind of description, I would sooner drive the family to the ground.

                ‘You were the only option. They may also have thought that they would be able to control you since you were a naive civilian.’ He looks offended by the very thought. I have to agree, like I would let anyone have that level of control over me again.

                ‘Really, I assume that he is going to show up at some point?’

                ‘Not anytime soon. What are you planning?’

                ‘Well, since he didn’t bother to actually gather accurate information on me, I might as well act how he thinks I should.’ I smile, this is going to be fun.

                ‘Haha,’ Reborn chuckles ‘They’ll be completely unprepared when they realize they have absolutely no way of controlling you.’

                ‘That’s not my fault.’ I shrug ‘he should have kept better track of his family.’ I’m sure if someone were to come in at this moment, they would see two demons smiling while planning someone’s downfall. Not that that is far from the truth. Ahh~ their face will be priceless once they realize I’m not someone they can impose their will on.

                After planning out how to screw with my father and Nono, we return to our normal routine of me completing my homework and Reborn correcting the few mistakes I’ve made. Movement outside the window catches my attention, and I see a little kid trying to pull himself up onto the branch of the tree.

                ‘Reborn, there’s a kid outside my window.’

                ‘Ignore it’

                He finally manages to pull himself up onto the branch and begins to yell something I can’t make out through the window while pointing at Reborn.

                ‘I think he knows you.’

                ‘This is incorrect’ Reborn just continues to check over my homework.

                Angry that no one is paying attention to him, he rummages around in his afro and pulls out a pink grenade. Before I can react, he has already chucked it through the window. Reborn casually deflects it back towards the kid, but I create a gust of wind that pushes it away before it hits the kid.

                ‘Gyahahahah! Reborn! The great Lambo has come for you!’ Reborn continues to ignore him, so he jumps through the window.

                ‘Lambo?’ I call out, trying to diffuse the situation before it becomes out of control.

                ‘Who are you?’ he looks at me confused. He probably didn’t even notice I was in the room.

                ‘I’m Tsuna’ I glance around suspiciously before whispering ‘Do you want to know a secret?’

                Lambo is completely distracted by this and runs over to me ‘tell me tell me!’ he shouts.

                ‘Shhh! You don’t want Reborn to know do you?’ He looks over at Reborn with fearful look on his face and is relieved when he sees that Reborn doesn’t look like he’s paying attention. I lean down and cup my hand around his ear and whisper. ‘If you go down stairs, and ask Mama really nicely, she might give you some candy.’

                He lights up in excitement at the mention of candy and is about to yell again before covering his mouth with his hands and nods. He runs out of the room and I can hear him talking to mama soon after.

                What a cute kid. I get the feeling that he will stick around, which is fine Mama will enjoy having him around.

 

* * *

 

Reborn

                ‘Your rather good with children’ I comment, he was able to easily distract Lambo and get him out of our hair.

                ‘Honestly, I’m not. I’ve got no idea how children his age actually act. I was just basing it off of Tsuna’s memories.’ He admits. ‘What is he 5?’

                ‘Around there.’ I confirm. It seems I was correct in thinking he didn’t have a childhood.

                ‘5 huh?’ He leans back and stares at the ceiling with a weary expression. ‘Things had already gone to hell by that point.’ He mumbles to himself.

                Tsuna has slowly been opening up about his time as Rei. Bits and pieces here and there. Usually as casual remarks to himself. There are things that now make more sense than they did before. His constant awareness, his dislike of being touch by people he doesn’t know. He was abused, and from a young age from the sounds of it.

                ‘Let’s go for a walk.’ He pushes himself up, abandoning his unfinished homework. I’m not worried about him finishing it, so I let him take a break. We’re a few blocks from the house with me riding on his shoulder. ‘You can ask you know. I may not have an answer, but you can always ask.’

                ‘Who was your first contract with?’ A relatively safe question—I think.

                ‘I made my first contract when I was 5? 6? Sorry, I don’t clearly remember. It was with Novus, the spirit who governed over fire.’

                ‘That’s rather young, is it common to make a contract that young?’

                ‘No, but it wasn’t unheard of. The ones who do make them that young, usually have extenuating circumstances. In my case, that was the first time I lost control, I ended up unconsciously making a contract.’

                So, no, it wasn’t a safe question. Seeing that he hasn’t become catatonic, it’s at least not the worst question I could ask. Is there anything I can ask that doesn’t somehow end up like this? Luckily, Tsuna doesn’t seem to be too stressed, I shouldn’t push my luck any further though.

                ‘Apparently,’ He smirks a little, ‘I lit myself on fire for like three days. I have no recollection of doing this, but I was told later that no one could put me out. The flames didn’t hurt me, but it’s a little funny now that they were basically powerless against a 5-year-old. They had to wait until my body just gave out.’ He laughs.

                I smile, but I can’t find the humor in the situation. Someone pushed a child to the breaking point, and everyone was just hopeless to just watch him protect himself with fire until his body couldn’t keep it up anymore. I suppose he finds the situation somewhat humorous as he is the one that was usually powerless. To have that situation reversed, I can understand why he thinks it’s funny. It doesn’t change my feelings about it though.

                Tsuna suddenly stops and tilts his head like he’s listening to something.

                ‘Tsuna?’ I call worried that he may be having a flash back.

                ‘Hm? Oh sorry, my intuition’s acting up.’ He starts walking again turning a couple of corners like he knows exactly where he needs to go.

                ‘Is something wrong?’

                ‘Its nothing dangerous,’ he pauses ‘well, at least for us. But I need be there.’ We come up the source three delinquents cornering two girls from his class.

                ‘What’s going on here?’ Tsuna calls out, making the delinquent’s focus their attention on him.

                ‘Tch, it’s got nothin to do with you. Leave, or you’ll regret getting involved.’ The leader threatens. Or at least attempts to.

                Ignoring the threat, he turns his attention to the girls. ‘Sasagawa-san, Kurokawa-san, are you two all right?’

                ‘Yeah, these monkeys won’t leave us alone though.’

                ‘Didn’t you hear me? Get out of here!’ He tries to intimidate Tsuna again. It obviously doesn’t work.

                ‘Hm? Sorry did you say something? I don’t understand idiots.’ The delinquents go red with anger. Tsuna certainly has a way of pissing people of.

                ‘I was tryin ta be nice, but I changed my mind. We’ll send you to the hospital.’

                Tsuna frowns. ‘I just said I don’t understand you. Why do you keep talking?’ He makes a face like he’s just realized something. ‘Ah! Sorry, I didn’t realize you couldn’t understand me either.’

                ‘GET HIM!’ This causes the leader loses his temper. I jump off his shoulder and head towards his classmates. They rush Tsuna at the same time, but none of them are able to land a hit on him. Not because he’s dodging, but their punches are off by a large margin, it’s like they can’t accurately judge the distance. They are literally swinging at nothing and then losing their balance and stubling around like a new born calf. Tsuna did something, I’m not quite sure what. I’ll have to ask him later, it seems to be a very useful skill in making fools of your opponents. Maybe I could figure out a way to do it?

                ‘Is Tsuna going to be alright?’ Sasagawa asks worriedly interrupting my train of thought.

                ‘He’ll be fine. They are too weak to actually do anything to him.’ That doesn’t seem to soothe her worries, but she doesn’t ask again.

                ‘He follows Hibari around, I’m sure he can take care of himself.’ Kurokawa tries to assure her. ‘Who are you anyways? Sawada-san’s kid brother?’

                ‘His tutor’ she doesn’t believe it, but she also doesn’t push the issue and goes back to watching the fight. The delinquents still haven’t been able to land a hit on Tsuna and are panting in exertion. The leader scowls before reaching into his poking and pulling out a switch blade. Sasagawa gasps in fright, but Tsuna just stares at it.

                ‘What? Afraid?’ Thinking that he’s finally intimidated Tsuna. He’s wrong of course. Tsuna really likes playing with his victims, while useful, I’ll have to make sure to have him understand when it’s appropriate.

                ‘What? Why?’ He asks tilting his head with an incredulous expression on his face. ‘If you couldn’t hit me before, what’s a knife going to change?’

                This just makes them angrier, but it seems Tsuna’s had enough playing around and swiftly knocks them out with a hit to the neck. It seems like I was worried for nothing, he fully understood the situation.

                ‘That was anticlimactic.’ Kurokawa dryly comments.

                Tsuna sends a text, probably to Tetsuya for cleanup.

                ‘Tsuna-kun! Are you alright!?’ She runs over and goes to touch him, but he quickly backs away. She frowns but doesn’t try again. Smart girl.       

                ‘Yeah, they didn’t even touch me.’ He tries to play his reaction off, it doesn’t work. They watch as he squirms under their thoughtful looks. ‘Anyways, I’ll walk you home, there might be others lurking around.’ He changes the topic as I leap back onto his shoulder.

                ‘Thank you for helping us!’

                ‘Don’t worry about it.’

                ‘I was worried though, it was dangerous! You shouldn’t just jump into those kinds of situations!’ She scolds.

                ‘Perhaps for you it was dangerous. You have to remember, I’ve been friends with Kyouya since I was 6. He regularly would just appear to beat me up.’ He laughs fondly.

                ‘That’s horrible! Why are you friends with someone like that?’ Well, she’s apparently not smart enough to not push that button. Skies like Tsuna don’t react well to their guardians being insulted. Especially when the one insulted is the only one they’ve had for years and has harmonized. She may not know that, but she must have known at least some of their relationship. Neither Tsuna or Hibari are people who do things by halves. Kurokawa, on the other hand looks like she’s realized the landmine Sasagawa’s stepped on and makes a face like she regrets everything.

                ‘Because I needed him.’ Tsuna snaps. ‘He may be violent, and always looking for a fight, but he has _never once_ broken his promise to me. That’s more than I can say about most people. I don’t appreciate you insulting my friend.’ It’s a rather tame response, but Tsuna has very tight control over his emotions, and hasn’t really encountered the mafias way of doing things yet, so not unexpected. Though, he would most likely completely ignore that anyways. Perhaps, I should call Dino sooner than later, it may be a good way to start to integrate him into the mafia. Dino would serve as a better role model for how to maintain your morals. They are certainly one of the tamer Families.

                ‘I’m sorry.’ She weakly apologizes properly cowed by the intensity of Tsuna’s glare.

                Tsuna sighs rubbing his face, dropping the matter, but not forgiving her. ‘Let’s just go. It’s getting late, I don’t know where you live, so I’ll just follow you.’

                The walk to their houses is filled with an awkward silence that neither side seems to be willing to break. Kurokawa is dropped off first, and then Sasagawa. She pauses at the gate of her house.

                ‘I’m sorry that I insulted Hibari-sempai. But he forced you to fight! Fighting isn’t good, you could get hurt!’ She tries again to make Tsuna see things her way. How…innocent, it’s almost offensive that she thinks she can make Tsuna do anything. She doesn’t understand who he is, or how he got to this point. She’s just selfishly improvising her beliefs onto him.

                ‘Sasagawa-san. Even if I wasn’t friends with Kyouya, I would still have no choice but to fight. That’s just the way my life has always worked.’ He tells her with a tired expression.

                ‘But—!’

                ‘If I didn’t fight, I would be dead. Or worse.’ He cuts her off. ‘You may be able to get away with never having to fight, but that was never an option for me. So even though I don’t like to fight, I like the other options less.’

                ‘That’s…’ She has a horrified expression on her face but can’t find a way to retort. Because sadly it’s the truth. Tsuna never had a choice, it was either fight, die or with his appearance, become some rich guys toy.

                ‘Goodnight, Sasagawa-san.’ He walks away, leaving her just staring blankly at him at the gate. Tsuna forced her to see the reality she’s been ignorant to, and she doesn’t know how to react to that. There’re only two options. Either she’ll continue the way she was or come to terms that the world isn’t the nice and happy place she wanted it to be, and accept that sometimes, violence is the only solution. It doesn’t matter which one she chooses.

Tsuna is fuming as we walk back his hands clench and unclenches overall, he’s tense. She really got under his skin. ‘She’s too naive’ He finally spits out once we are out of sight.  

                ‘She’s never been forced to choose like you did. Because of that she can say such ridiculous things.’

                ‘I know that but—Ahh!’ Frustrated he rubs his head and sighs. ‘I think I’m just jealous.’

                ‘That she is able to see the world like that?’

                ‘Yeah.’ His shoulders slump underneath me in defeat. ‘I don’t think there was ever a time that I would survive with that kind of belief.’

                ‘That’s not a viable option for a lot of people.’ I point out.

                ‘I know.’ He agrees sounding resigned. ‘It doesn’t stop me from wishing that the world was different place.’

 


	17. Chapter 15

Tsuna

                Lambo did end up staying, I must admit it’s nice for the house to be becoming so lively. I always felt guilty about leaving Mama alone since I’m out of the house so often, but now she’ll have some one to take care of. Lambo is a very loud and rowdy kid, so he basically needs constant supervision. He’ll keep Mama quite busy. I need to remember to set some ground rules. It’d be bad if he started throwing grenades around again.

                I can hear arguing as I open the front door to leave for school. Gokudera and Yamamoto are both waiting for me outside the gate. Hope rises in me when I see Gokudera, he must have decided his answer. They stop arguing when they see me close the door.

                ‘Tsuna! / Juudaime!’

                ‘Don’t call him that Baseball Idiot!’ Gokudera scowls while Yamamoto just laughs it off. What an  interesting pair, they look like they are having fun.

                I smile, ‘so that’s your answer?’ cutting off the next round of arguments.

                The change is immediate, the scowl disappears, and a serious expression takes its place. ‘Hai, I would be honored to become part of your family Juudaime.’ He bows.

                ‘There’s no need for that!’ I make him stand back up. ‘Besides, I told you, I’m not looking for subordinates. I’m looking for friends.’

                He makes this really excited expression, and enthusiastically nods his head. ‘Of course! I’ll become your right-hand man!’ He really reminds me of something, but I can’t quite place it.

                ‘Right-hand man? Isn’t that Hibari-sempai’s position?’ Yamamoto cuts in with a confused expression. Gokudera just deflates when he hears this. Ah. He looks like a dejected dog. I laugh at the mental image of both Gokudera with a tail and ears, and the ridiculous notion that _Kyouya_ of all people is my right-hand man.

                ‘No no no. Kyouya isn’t—pft—the position is still open.’ Gokudera perks back up. ‘Kyouya may have been with me the longest, but do you know what that position actually entails?’

                ‘It’s to organize the family and assist in all of the boss’s responsibilities.’ Gokudera answers.

                ‘Right’ I nod, ‘and to do that talking to and compromising with people is necessary. Can you honestly see Kyouya doing that?’

                Yamamoto just makes a face that’s between horror and a grimace.

                ‘Yeah I thought so. Kyouya is more a tactical missile to throw at the enemies. I can’t even begin to imagine the carnage that would ensue if I sent him on a diplomatic mission.’

                ‘Everyone would be bitten to death.’  He states grimly.

                ‘Was he the one you were with yesterday?’

                ‘Yeah. Hibari Kyouya, my cloud guardian. I wouldn’t recommend antagonizing him.’ I warn. ‘He has a reputation of putting people in the hospital.’

                ‘I’ll keep that in mind Juudaime.’

                ‘Hmm, yeah that’s not going to work.’ It’s been bothering me, calling me Juudaime, Juudaime over and over again.

                ‘What?’

                ‘We are friends, right?’

                ‘Yeah…’ He responds unsure where this is going.

                ‘Well friends don’t call each other by titles. So, call me Tsuna.’

                He frantically waves his hands, ‘No, I couldn’t possibly do that!’

                ‘I see.’ Well I suspected he wouldn’t agree right away. ‘Then I’ll just ignore you till you do.’ Yamamoto is watching on barely containing his laughter.

                ‘Wait, but—!’ I don’t respond looking straight ahead.

                ‘Ts-tsu-tsuna’ He finally stutters out, and Yamamoto has failed to hold back his laughter any longer. His face is bright red as he turns and lashes out at him, ‘don’t laugh!’

                ‘That wasn’t that hard, was it.’ I laugh, and he just mumbles under his breath. ‘Come on, don’t want to be late.’

                The rest of the walk to school is filled with Gokudera and Yamamoto’s bickering. Rather than being irritating, it’s nice to have their company. Kyouya spots me from the gate and gives a look that says _I told you so_. He was, more and more people are coming into my life, for the longest time it just Mama and Kyouya. Well, and his minions but my interactions with them were minimal. Mama, Kyouya, Reborn, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Lambo. They’ve all inserted themselves into my life. And there will surely be more to come. For once, I can’t help but become excited.

* * *

 

Ryohei

                Kyoko ran into trouble yesterday with delinquents, but Sawada helped her out. I’ll have to thank him for that, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her. I always assumed that Sawada could handle himself in a fight since he follows Hibari around, this just proves it. I had considered challenging him to a fight earlier but decided against it when I realized Hibari gets especially vicious whenever Tsuna’s involved. While I don’t mind picking a fight with him normally, I would rather not end up in the hospital for months. The rest of the school figured that out pretty quickly as well, when some bully thought that Tsuna was an easy target. Soft spoken, loner, and weak looking Tsuna definitely looked the part. But then the kid ended up crippled a day later. Since then, the school has revolved around Tsuna. No one really seems to notice, but we all pay attention to his moods to gauge how volatile Hibari will be. Try and smooth over any bumps in their relationship, and generally try to be helpful. It’s odd. Tsuna just has this kind of pull to him that just makes you pay attention to him.

                I catch sight of him on the way home from school, and I run up to him. He’s with two others, which is rare, he usually keeps mostly to himself.

                ‘SAWADA!!!’

                He turns, startled. I grab him in a hug before he can react. ‘THANKS FOR SAVING KYOKO!’ He doesn’t respond. Yamamoto has a panicky look, and the silver haired kid I don’t recognize, starts yelling at me for being rude.

                ‘You should let him go sempai.’ Yamamoto worriedly tells me.

                I look down frowning, Sawada is limp in my arms, head fallen to the side. It’s hard to see with all his hair, but his eyes, his eyes look lifeless.

                Gently, I lower him to the ground. Eyes still lifeless, and it just _feels wrong_. The kid the entire school orbits around shouldn’t be the same person that is reduced to this. The silver haired kid has stopped yelling and is looking in shock. He obviously hasn’t seen this before. But I can tell Yamamoto has.

                ‘Is Sawada alright?’

                ‘I—don’t know? I’ve only seen it once, Hibari-sempai took care of it.’

                ‘I’ve already contacted him.’ A baby appears from nowhere.

                ‘Reborn! What happened to Tsuna! The silver one demands.

                ‘Not here Gokudera.’ He wants to argue but swallows his words when Reborn glares at him. The baby turns his attention and studies me. ‘You should come with us when we leave.’

                ‘But it’s hi—!’ Gokudera screams.

                ‘Shut up.’ He doesn’t try again.

                ‘I’ll go. It’s my fault.’

                Hibari appears soon after, ignoring everyone and heads straight to Tsuna, his eyes somber as he picks him up. Sawada instantly latches on to him. We silently follow him to the reception room, where he sits on the couch Sawada still attached.

                ‘There are things you need to be aware of if you plan on following Tsuna.’ Reborn starts. ‘Some of them, I’ll leave up to him to tell. But others,’ he glances at Sawada. ‘There are things that he will probably never say.’

                ‘Why is he here then!?’ Gokudera yells pointing at me.

                ‘What do you mean by following Sawada?’

                ‘Tsuna is the sole heir to the strongest mafia family. We are currently in the process of gathering what we call guardians.’

                ‘Mafia?’ It’s unbelievable, but no one hear looks surprised. ‘Then?’

                ‘We all joined Tsuna’s family’ Yamamoto confirms.

                ‘You would be a good fit as a Sun Guardian.’

                ‘But!’ Gokudera tries to intervene again.

                ‘It’s Tsuna’s decision.’ Hibari cuts in.

                ‘Of course,’ Reborn agrees. ‘Tsuna will respect whatever decision you make. Regardless, I’m sure you want to know why things ended up this way. I don’t know everything, actually I don’t know most of the story.’ Gokudera looks completely shocked by this. Is it that weird that this baby doesn’t know it? ‘What I do know is that Tsuna is a very broken person. He’ll occasionally become catatonic like that.’

                ‘But isn’t that dangerous?’ Yamamoto asks.

                ‘From what I’ve heard, Tsuna’s the one who is dangerous when he’s like this.’

                ‘Hn. If you’re an enemy he’ll reduce you to nothing on instinct.’

                ‘Since, you’re still alive, Tsuna doesn’t consider you a threat.’ A cold sweat forms on my skin. Just how close to death was I? I want it to be a lie, but Hibari would never joke around like that.

                ‘Why!’ That could mean any number of things, but most likely, Gokudera wants to know why Tsuna became like this. 

                ‘Those are things Tsuna will have to tell you himself. I will tell you though, Tsuna doesn’t like being touched. If you feel the need to, make sure you do it with in his line of sight. Or he will likely become like that again.’

                We all stare at Tsuna, clinging on to Hibari like his life depended on it. I _never_ want to see him like this again. A quick glance at the others shows they have the same resolve. If that means I need to follow him into the mafia to protect him, well it seems I’ve already made my choice. But who am I kidding? I was pulled in by him a long time ago. There was never a need to choose.

                ‘So?’ Pulling the attention away from Tsuna ‘Where do I sign up?’


	18. Chapter 16

Tsuna

               

                The last thing I remember is Sasagawa-sempai suddenly grabbing me. He’s a friendly guy and occasionally would help me out when I was on duty. I’ve never really minded interacting with him, but I really wish he would stop picking fights with Kyouya.

He’s never tried to touch me before, so I was completely unprepared when he suddenly hugged me. _I’m being restrained, I can’t move, I can’t escape, I CAN’T GET AWAY!_  Even though logically I know that no one can’t hurt me anymore, the claustrophobic feeling and panic dominates all other emotions and my body just shuts down. Because instinctually, I know that being trapped like this, can only means pain.

* * *

 

                The first thing I notice is the warmth. I snuggle closer to it, enjoying the safe feeling it offers. I recognize this, it’s Kyouya’s.

                ‘Tsuna’ He shakes my shoulder. ‘I know your awake.’

                I moan, not ready to give up the warmth, but I open my eyes. Its then that I suddenly become aware of the other presences in the room. Embarrassed that I was caught in such a position, I scramble off Kyouya’s lap. In doing so, I nearly fall off the couch before Kyouya catches me and pulls me back to my original position, this time keeping a hand on my waist, so I can’t move.

                ‘Stay still.’ He commands, and I avert my eyes, feeling the blush on my face.

                ‘Tsuna’ Reborn mercifully pulls the attention from me. ‘There are things that need to be discussed.’

                That, that is not something I wanted to hear. I can feel my hands shaking, as I clench them.

                ‘I’m sorry.’ Sasagawa-sempai takes over the conversation. ‘I wanted to thank you for helping Kyouko, I didn’t know you would react like that.’ He bows. ‘I’m sorry.’

                ‘Pleases don’t bow to me like that! You didn’t know, so I’ll forgive you. Just be more careful in the future.’

                ‘OF COURSE! YOU CAN CALL ME ONI-SAN!’

                ‘Ahaha,’ I laugh weakly taken aback by his enthusiasm, but I can tell, he’s not going to let this go. ‘Ok Oni-san.’

                He beams at me, thoroughly pleased with himself.

                ‘Sasagawa has agreed to be your sun guardian.’

                ‘But I thought?’ I trail off, confused I thought that Reborn had already taken that position.

                ‘So you noticed, we’ll discuss that later. For now, what do you want to do?’ I’ll let it go for now, it doesn’t seem to be a conversation that he wants others listening to.

                I turn to Oni-san, and study him. ‘You know what you’re getting into?’

                ‘I do.’ He doesn’t yell or advert his eyes. ‘You’re part of the Mafia.’

                ‘The strongest and bloodiest family’ I clarify. But he doesn’t waver and continues to hold my gaze.

                ‘I know.’

                ‘Alright, I’ll accept. Welcome to my family Oni-san.’

                ‘With that settled,’ Reborn takes over the conversation again. ‘The others have questions for you. What you say, is up to you.’

                ‘Ok.’ I steel my determination. ‘What do you need to know?’ My voice wavers a bit but its steady. ‘I’ll try to answer your questions.’

                ‘What happened!’ Gokudera is the first one to ask. I’m surprised he hadn’t interrupted, it looked like he was about to blow up the entire time.

                ‘An automatic response. I felt trapped, so my body just gave out from under me, so I wouldn’t have to remember the consequences.’

                ‘Consequences?’ Yamamoto asks.

                ‘Pain.’ I close my eyes and feel Kyouya’s hand tighten around my waist. ‘A lot of people have hurt me. At some point it was just easier to disassociate and not remember.’

                ‘I’ll blow them up!’ Gokudera yells in anger pulling out sticks of dynamite from somewhere. ‘Who are they!?’ Yamamoto and Oni-san both look like they are also ready to commit murder as well.

                ‘Put those away.’ I look at him with dull eyes. ‘They don’t exist anymore, there’s no one for you to fight.’

                Reluctantly, he stores them back in his pockets. ‘What happened to them?’

                ‘Nothing good I can assure you of that.’ I give them a smile that makes them freeze. ‘I can be very vicious when I choose to be.’ They shudder, ‘You shouldn’t worry though, I doubt you will ever be at the other end of it.’

                It’s quite for a few seconds after that before I ask, ‘Do you have any other questions right now?’

                They shake their heads. ‘Then it’s my turn to explain somethings. You’ll often see me use other abilities than dying will flames, we’ll explain it to you later Oni-san’ I tell him seeing his confusion. ‘For now, just think of it as flames that get stronger based on your determination. Anyways, I am not limited to just flames. I made contracts with several different spirits. They give me control of the elements and a few other things I won’t go into now.’ I leave out how I got them. They don’t need to know that. At least right now. I also don’t tell them that I’m not the original Tsuna. The fewer people that know the better.

                ‘THAT’S EXTREME OTOUTO!’

                ‘That’s cool Tsuna!’

                Yamamoto and Oni-san readily accept it, worried that Gokudera hasn’t said anything, I look over to find him staring at me oddly.

                ‘Gokudera? Why are you looking at me like that?’

                ‘You’re an UMA!’ He’s super excited, eyes shining in interest.

                ‘What?’ Of all the reactions, this one never even crossed my mind. Everyone else is looking at him oddly as well.

               ‘An unidentified mysterious animal!’ he explains.

               ‘I’m not sure what you are talking about, but I am very much human.’ How did he even leap straight to not human?

               ‘Of course, I understand. You want to keep it a secret you’re here right? Don’t worry, none of us will say anything.’

               ‘Right…’ I’m not sure what exactly he understood, but it seems way more work than it’s worth to try and correct him. So, let’s just ignore it. It’s not like he’s hurting anyone.

                I look out the window and see that it’s starting to get dark.

                ‘Let’s leave it here for today, it’s getting late.’ They start to gather their things. ‘I’ll warn you before you leave, don’t reveal anything to the civilians about flames, the mafia or my contracts.’

               ‘Tsuna’s correct.’ Reborn takes over this part of the explanation.’ In regards to dying will flames and the mafia, if you tell civilians, the Vindice will come and arrest you. They are the police force of the underground, and if your arrested, you’ll never see the light of day again. While the Vindice has no authority to punish you if knowledge about Tsuna’s summons get out, you can be sure that I will hunt you down. Understand?’ His murderous intent suffocates the room.

              They frantically nod their heads, dramatically paling at the threat. There’s no doubt that Reborn is perfectly capable of following through with it. The murderous intent is pulled back and they all let out a sigh of relief.

               They leave after that Oni-san pestering Gokudera, and Yamamoto laughing at both of them.

               Yamamoto suddenly stops at the door ‘Ah! I almost forgot. Tsuna, my Dad wanted to meet you at some point. He wanted to thank you.’

               ‘I’ll stop by tomorrow after school. At your restaurant?’

               ‘Yeah. I’ll let him know you’re coming.’ He exits the room closing the door behind him. Leaving Reborn, Kyouya and myself in the room.

                Kyouya doesn’t make any motion to release me.

               ‘Kyouya?’ He scrutinizes my face and frowns.

              ‘It’s happening more.’

               ‘I know.’

               ‘I don’t like it.’

               ‘I know.’ He pulls me closer and cards his hand through my hair. ‘I don’t regret it.’ His hand stops. I pull back and smile at him, and he gets this stunned expression on his face. ‘I’m not quite as tired as before. You kept me stable all these years by keeping your promise. And as more and more people are coming into my life, I’m actually excited about our future with them.’ I loop my arms around his neck bringing our foreheads together. ‘I’ll return your words to you now. I’m _never_ letting any of you go.’ Unknown to me, my eyes glow an other worldly amber, as if announcing my resolve to the world. ‘ _You’re mine’_


	19. Chapter 17

Reborn

                Listening to Tsuna declare that we, I, am his. Soothed some of the uneasy parts of my soul. I can tell that we are on the brink of harmonizing. We would have if I hadn’t prevented it at the last moment. The possessiveness combined with the effect of him subconsciously saturating the room with his Sky Flames, caused my own flames to reach out without my consent. I desperately want to harmonize with him. The only thing holding it back is my reservations about how the curse will affect us. Before anything, we need to have a conversation, the curse is an unknown. But, if he has a solution… no. I shake the thought away. I said I wouldn’t ask.

We exchange greetings with Mama and Lambo before heading up to Tsuna’s room.

Tsuna doesn’t waste any time and askes, ‘I thought you had taken the spot as my sun guardian?’

‘I did, but you are a strong enough sky to support more than one person of each element. Publicly, it would be better if Sasagawa had the position. I didn’t become the Worlds Greatest Hitman without creating a lot of enemies.’ He is an exceptionally strong Sky, to the point that it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up with multiples of every element.

‘You’re afraid they’ll come after me to get back at you.’

                ‘Correct. However, I am more worried about the effect the curse will have on you. None of the others have had a sky to my knowledge since the curse.’

‘There are others?’

‘In total there are 7 of us.’

                ‘One for each flame’

‘Yes, except there currently is not a Sky Arcobaleno, she died shortly after being cursed.’ He raises an eyebrow at the lack of emotion when speaking about Luce but thankfully, doesn’t pursue the topic. That’s not a discussion I’m keen on having. ‘Someone interfered when we were cursed and took the spot of the Rain Arcobaleno, leaving the original partially cursed.’

He sits there and contemplates something before asking ‘Can I try something?’

‘Of course.’ He places a hand on my shoulder and his other over the center of his chest.

‘Ruha, I wish to see the world’s connections.’ His eyes bleed a molten gold and become unfocused. Not like before, when there was nothing reflected in them, but like he’s looking at everything at once. Its breath taking to see what kind of power he holds at his disposal, I can feel the power thrumming in the air and beneath his hand. He seems to find something of interest and follows something I can’t see. The gold falls away and he bends over panting.

‘Tsuna!’

‘I’m alright. It’s just disorienting and tiring to look at the world like that for long periods of time.’ He catches his breath and looks up at me. ‘I have good news though.’ He smiles brightly. ‘There is a cure to the curse.’

My though processes just grind to a halt. I can feel my control slipping. But who _cares!?_ After so many years, stuck like this, unable to freely access my flames. There’s a way to reverse it.

‘Your serious about this?’ The excitement leaks into my voice.

‘I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t. I wouldn’t give you false hope like that. I don’t have all the pieces right now, so I can’t just carelessly break the curse. But I will, I know I will. You just have to wait a bit longer.’

‘What are you missing?’

‘I may be able to see the connections between things, but that doesn’t mean I’m omniscient. My hyper intuition helps fill in some of the missing parts, but I don’t know what I don’t know. I get that the Arcobaleno Curse was probably necessary for some reason, but I don’t understand why. Without knowing that carelessly breaking the curse could have drastic consequences.’

‘I know that the curse supposedly uses our flames to support the world. I’m not sure of the mechanics behind it.’ I’ve tried researching it, but I’ve never gotten far. Information about it has most likely been repressed.

‘I see,’ rubbing his chin in deep thought. ‘Then there needs to be something to replace it before it’s possible to break the curse.’

‘I’ve never thought about it before, but even though you aren’t omniscient, with the combined ability of being able to see connections and your hyper intuition, you’re pretty close.’ To get all of that in a few seconds, this kind of knowledge would let him reign over the mafia with ease.

‘I know, it’s over powered.’ He smiles wryly.

‘Don’t let anyone outside of the family know.’ I warn. Other families may try to take advantage of him. He already has a target on his back due to his status as the sole heir of Vongola, it doesn’t need to be any bigger.

‘I understand’ he nods. ‘If possible, I would like to meet the other Arcobaleno, that might give me a better idea of what I’m working with.’

‘Fon, the Storm Arcobaleno should be here soon. He wanted to leave his apprentice with you while he dealt with the triads.’

‘Is something wrong?’

‘They kept trying to take his apprentice from him. He’s generally not very confrontational, but he’s still a storm. They’ve crossed his bottom line too many times, and he needs some where safe for his apprentice to hide while he reminds the Triads why the Arcobaleno aren’t someone they can provoke.’

 ‘I have no issue with them staying here, do you know how old they are?’

‘I believe she is around Lambo’s age.’

‘Oh good, it’ll be nice for him to have someone to play with. But it’s probably best if we kept this to our selves for now. I don’t think the being that cursed you would take kindly to our meddling.’

I clench my fists in anger. ‘Agreed.’

                He’s silently debating something, with a torn expression on his face. ‘What is it.’

                ‘Well, I…’ he adverts his eyes.

                ‘Tsuna.’

                ‘There’s a possibility that I’ll become the next Sky Arcobaleno.’

                Like that my control completely slips and I flood the room with killing intent. Tsuna hardly reacts, but he still becomes paler and starts to sweat.

                ‘No’

                ‘Reborn—’

                ‘No. That is never happening.’ I cut him off. To even suggest that Tsuna would even possibly be forced into the position of the Sky Arcobaleno. The mere thought of it sends my instincts into a near rage.

                ‘Right now, it’s only a possibility, if we can break the curse it won’t become an issue.’ He quickly explains in a hope to calm me down.

                ‘Then that’s our priority.’ I get some semblance of control back and reign in my murderous intent. The pressure in the room fades and Tsuna slumps back against the wall in relief. I jump up into his lap and enjoy the warmth he offers. Sky flames leak out and coax my sun flames to do the same. They intermingle, and I feel something in my soul fall into place. Tusna couldn’t have been more right when he described harmonization. And now more than ever I realize that Luce never actually harmonized with us, just fooled us into thinking we had.

We both ride out the after effects. The warm comforting feeling of _home_. Tsuna is the first to break the silence. ‘Welcome home.’

And after decades of roaming, I finally realize _this_ is what I actually wanted. Not fame or fortune, but simply a place I could come back to. ‘I’m back’

Tsuna and his growing family has become that place I can return to. If anyone tries to take that from me… well, I’m not known as the World’s Greatest Hitman for nothing.


	20. Chapter 18

Tsuyoshi

                I have heard about Sawada Tsunayoshi. In this town, it would be stranger if you hadn’t. With that Hibari kid beating up people left and right with no regards to consequences, having someone who he listens to, well, people obviously took notice. When they first started being seen together, everyone was just holding their breath waiting for Hibari to snap and attack the kid.

But it never happened. At some point, people realized that Hibari actually deferred to Sawada in some situations. But that’s more control than anyone has ever had over him. Understanding that, people stared to pay more attention to him. I doubt they ever noticed anything strange about him. Sawada is incredibly adept in masking his emotions, and civilians, they haven’t seen the full extent of the darkness the world had to offer. But Sawada had. Supposedly he was a civilian as well, but I could tell during the few times I’ve seen his mask slip. He has looked into the abyss and dragged himself out of it, damaged, but still intact. That’s probably part of what drew the two together.

Sky flames are the other component. It’s odd that after all these years Hibari was the only guardian he ever pulled in. He more or less always kept to himself. He’s a polite and thoughtful kid, don’t get me wrong, but distant. Besides Hibari, no one ever was able to get close to him. Not even his mother to some extent.

So, it was a bit surprising that Takeshi said that it was Sawada that saved him when he jumped off the roof. Well, not really, Sawada has always tried to protect the people in the town. What was surprising was that they formed a bond afterwards. Sawada had accepted my son’s presence. This made me curious, what had changed? Why was it that he was now pulling in guardians left and right when he only had Hibari for years? While the Arcobaleno probably had some hand in it, that begs the question, _why is he here?_

To be able to have an Arcobaleno personally get involved, requires a lot of power in the mafia world. The families that have that kind of power are few and far between. I need to know what exactly Takeshi has gotten himself into. Not that I would be able to change his mind. Because the determination I saw when my son asked me to teach him swordsmanship, there is no way that he would ever leave Sawada. So, for peace of mind, I asked him to bring him to the shop. While I know of him from here say, I won’t be able to rest easy without seeing what kind of person he is for myself.

 

* * *

 

                A few days after Sawada ends up in my shop followed by the Arcobaleno and a silver haired boy, who is in a one-sided argument with my son.

                ‘Oyaji! This is Tsuna, Gokudera and Reborn.’ He introduces them.

                ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ Sawada politely greets.

                ‘Likewise, Sawada-san’

                ‘Ah, Tsuna is fine.’

                ‘Takeshi, why don’t you bring your friends to the dojo, I’ll be back there soon.’ I give a meaningful look to Reborn. Tsuna catches it, but the others don’t. They leave, and the arguing starts back up again.

                ‘So. Why are you here, Sun Arcobaleno.’

                ‘Oh~ you know who I am.’

                ‘I used to be part of the mafia, I left after Takeshi’s mother was killed.’

                ‘I see. I was contracted by Vongola to tutor Tsuna to become Decimo. With the other heir’s dead, he’s the only one left.’

                I narrow my eyes at him. ‘Vongola, so there’s no way out of it.’

                ‘I would normally agree. But if Tsuna really doesn’t want to… I doubt there’s anything they could actually do to him.’

                ‘He can go against Vongola?!’ The surprise is warranted. This is Vongola we are talking about. The strongest mafia family that has been in power for the last 400 years. Who knows what kind of hidden trump cards they have hidden away. But even with out considering that, just with the man power and resources they have, it’s just absurd to think a 14-year-old can match that.

                ‘I honestly have not seen his limit. But from what I do know, If Tsuna wanted to, wiping Vongola from the face of the Earth isn’t a difficult task.’ He makes this claim with complete certainty. Seeing my disbelieving look on my face he smirks. ‘You may not see it now. But, Tsuna can be a force of nature when he needs to be.’

                He leaps off the table and starts to head for the dojo. ‘You’ll start to understand the more as you come into contact with him.’

                I follow him back, as we enter the dojo, Takeshi and Gokudera are still arguing with Tsuna looking on with fondness but not participating.

                ‘Finished?’ Tsuna askes, not taking his eyes away from the others.

                ‘Mm, I believe he has some questions for you.’

                ‘I assumed so.’ Turning to face me.

                ‘You formed a bond with my son. What are your intentions towards him?’

                He gently smiles. ‘Intentions? As long as he’s happy and safe, I don’t care what he does. I won’t restrict his freedom. He’s free to do as he pleases.’

                ‘Then if he wants to leave?’ I challenge, anyone can say such pretty words, but does he mean it.

                ‘If that’s what he wants.’ He immediately answers. But there’s an underlying sadness. I believe he would let him go even if it would hurt him.

                ‘The mafia is not a kind place. It’s not a matter of if, but when you kill someone. Do you have the determination to follow through with what needs to be done?’

                He chuckles sadly. ‘It’s been a long time since I could consider myself innocent.’ Eyes blaze orange as the gaze into mine. ‘But if you must know. I’d set the world ablaze if it meant they were safe.’

                I can’t react under his gaze that bores into me. But I believe him. He really would go that far for the people he cared about. With that I can confidently leave my son in his hands.

 I’m also starting to understand why Reborn believes that he could defeat Vongola. So what if it’s the strongest mafia family? Feeling the unbridled strength of his Sky Flames that are saturating the air, I have to question whether the Vongola has the power to go against him. Because I have never felt such strong and pure flames in my life. I shudder at the thought of someone sending him into a rage. If he were to unleash his rage unchecked, would there even be a world left?

               


	21. Chapter 19

Tsuna

                Looking at the scene at front of me I can’t help but wonder if I’ve become some kind of chaos magnet. The morning started off normally, Yamamoto and Gokudera met me at the gate to walk to school together, we ended up meeting with Oni-san on our way. Everything was just a downward spiral from there.

                An older teen girl leaps out at us and starts throwing ‘food’ at us with out warning. Though calling what is essentially chemical waste food is a little offensive. Since I don’t think food can normally eat through the ground like that. In the middle of this Gokudera passes out face down on the pavement. Oni-san throws him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before we run away from the crazy homicidal lady. I’m sure it was quite the sight.

                Because the world apparently hates me, Bianchi, Gokudera’s older sister, as I later find out. Followed us into the school and poisoned the entire classes home ec. assignment. Gokudera once again passes out at the sight of Bianchi, because that is somehow a thing, half the class ends up in the nurse’s office and the chaos summons Kyouya who proceeds to ‘bite to death the herbivores who are disrupting the peace.’ I spend the rest of the day trying to get him to get him to calm down. By that I mean we tried to beat each other up for a few hours.

                By the time I get home I’m tired, irritable, bruised, and very much ready to destroy the next annoyance that pops up. So, when Bianchi ends up at my front door with what is definitely is not a pizza, I can be excused for slamming the door in her face before she can say anything. She’s Reborn’s problem now. I don’t know how, but this is definitely his fault.

                ‘Reborn! Bianchi’s at the door trying to kill me again.’ He looks like he’s about to tell me to handle it myself, but something in my face that stops him.

                ‘I’ll handle it.’ When he opens the door to let Bianchi, she makes an abortive movement to throw the _not pizza_. ‘Bianchi.’

                ‘Reborn! I finally found you! Don’t worry, I’ll kill this kid and we can go back to Italy.’ She seems to be awfully familiar with Reborn.

                ‘You know each other?’

                ‘She’s my fourth lover.’ He responds. This would be hilarious if she hadn’t just spent the entire day trying to brutally murder me. Who am I kidding? I will take great pleasure in making fun of Reborn.

                ‘Then’ I give Reborn a smile that’s not really a smile. ‘You should take responsibility.’ I’m definitely going to pay for that later. But the betrayed look on his face was totally worth it.

                ‘Bianchi.’ He ignores me. ‘I thought you were smarter than this.’

                ‘But your talents are wasted on this kid! Let’s just kill him and we can go back taking missions in Italy.’

                ‘Wow, you really have a death wish.’ I casually comment earning a glare from her. ‘What? Don’t look at me like that. I’m the sole heir to Vongola. What exactly did you think would happen if you killed me?’ She pales at that, obviously she hadn’t though this through, if she’s just now realizing that killing me, would cause Vongola to hunt her down and kill her in revenge. I highly doubt she possesses the ability to hide from them. She certainly doesn’t have the ability to go against them head on.

                ‘I’m not leaving, I took a mission to make Tsuna a mafia boss. I don’t fail missions.’

                ‘Besides, it’s not like you can’t stay in Namimori if you want to be near Reborn. As long as you stop trying to kill me, I don’t really mind.’ Reborn shoots me a look, clearly not keen on her staying. I pretend not to see it. As they say, you reap what you sow. Reborn created this problem, he can live with the consequences.

                ‘Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll go find an apartment to rent now.’ She runs off after hugging Reborn. Who has a long-suffering look on his face, resigned to the mess he’s gotten himself in.

                ‘So?’ I raise an eyebrow at him. ‘When were you going to tell me you had a girlfriend?’ Oh~ his eye’s twitching. How rare, Reborn’s usually pretty hard to get riled up.

                ‘She’s not my girlfriend.’

                ‘She seems to think she is.’

                ‘I taught her the ropes of being a hitman. She decided I was her lover on her own.’

                ‘You didn’t deny it, did you.’

                ‘No.’ He sighs covering his face.

                ‘I thought so.’ I laugh. ‘I’m sure you thought it was funny at the time, but now it’s come back to bite you in the ass.’ He glares at me before smirking.

                ‘Well what about you and Hibari?’

                ‘What about us?’ I ask confused, where exactly is he going with this? I thought he was trying to turn the tables on me?

                ‘Your relationship is rather ambiguous at best.’ Ah—so he was trying to embarrass me. Well it’s a shame he choose the wrong topic.

                ‘I stopped trying to figure that out a long time ago.’ I wave him off. ‘There are a lot of things I just don’t understand. Kyouya’s not exactly the greatest at social interaction either. With both of us woefully socially inept I’ll just let it develop naturally. It’s easier for both of us that way. I’m happy with what we have now, but if that becomes something more, well that’s fine too.’

                ‘That’s one way to go about it.’ He pouts, put out that he wasn’t able to embarrass me.

                ‘Ah~ I wonder what Mama will say about your girlfriend. She’ll want to meet her.’ I walk off ignoring Reborn yelling after me.

                ‘Tsuna! Tsuna! Come back here!’ He must really not enjoy Mama smothering him.

                I laugh as I run away from him. He starts to shoot at me, but the warmth builds in my chest. I won this round.  But who knows about the next? Or the one after that? I’m sure this game we’re playing will continue on for a long time. Slowly growing in complexity and ridiculousness. Constantly trying to get one up on each other.  How exciting! I’m sure Reborn feels the same, I can feel his flames mix with mine in his excitement. I’m looking forward to our next game. But for now, Let’s go find Mama.

 

               

               

               


	22. Chapter 20

Reborn

                As expected Tsuna wasn’t right the next couple days. He would often space out, a lot of the time it felt like he was just going through the motions. He wouldn’t hear his teachers calling him, and eventually they just left him be, it was clear to see just how distracted he was.

                Hibari’s also taken his stalking to a new level. He’s basically attached himself to Tsuna’s hip. The only time that he leaves is when he is sure that Tsuna is asleep. The look Tsuna gave him when Hibari tried to follow him into the bathroom was highly entertaining. That is—until he turned it on me.

                The other guardians have also picked up on Tsuna’s discomfort and have taken to hovering over him. Gokudera is besides himself with worry, constantly asking if there’s something he needs or if there is someone he needs to ‘take care of’.  So many people have been threatened with dynamite this week. Tsuna just gives him an exasperated look every time he does while stopping him from blowing up the school.

                Yamamoto has taken a subtler approach. Causally staying by his side, trying to redirect Gokudera from blowing up some poor kid that got a little to close by starting an argument with him. He’s also started to subconsciously emit rain flames when Tsuna is especially high strung. His presence gives a sense of calm and normality, both things that Tsuna needs.

                Sasagawa on the other hand has taken to randomly appearing to drag Tsuna into some convoluted competition. It doesn’t matter what it is, running, boxing, board games, he’ll make sure to fully engage Tsuna so he’s not able to think about anything else. He also drags the others into the competition, so the chaos just grows exponentially. Tsuna usually just sits back and watches in amusement as the entire competition implodes into a battel royal.

                But there’s nothing they can do about the nightmares. By far they are the worst consequence of this incident. There’s no screaming, or any outward sign that he’s having one. Only a slight frown and a sudden return to consciousness. He’s incapable of returning to sleep after that. Often, he spends a lot of time trying to calm himself down. I don’t dare get close to him after the first time. That look of fear… it should never be on his face. And I’ll be damned if I’m the one that causes it. So I wait. Wait until he’s calm enough to recognize he’s not in any danger and just sit with him for the rest of the night in silence.

                This can’t go on any more though. It’s starting to take a toll on his body. There are dark bags under his eyes, and he looks like he’s about to fall asleep where he stands. I’ve tried to talk to him about it, but this is the first time that he’s really resisting. Luckily, the matter was resolved by Hibari. He took one look at the bags under Tsuna’s eyes this morning, frowned but he didn’t say anything about it. After Tsuna fell asleep, instead of leaving like he had been doing, he snuck in to the room and climbed into bed with him without even acknowledging that I was in the room.

                Watching them, I decide these two idiots are practically married already, they just don’t realize it yet. Both of them are woefully socially incompetent, so it will take a long time for them to realize this. I’m half tempted to just tell them and put all of us out our misery to half to watch these two morons circle each other for the foreseeable future. But this is something they need to figure out for themselves. Not because it’s way more amusing to see how long it takes them to figure it out on their own. Not at all.

 The extensive wedding plans I found suddenly make so much more sense. Mama’s obviously just waiting for the shoe to drop. I can’t wait to see Tsuna’s expression when he finds out. Though Bakamitsu’s reaction will probably much more satisfying. He’s probably got it in his head that Tsuna will marry a girl from a mafia family to help build connections. That plan was shot to hell before it could even be realized. There will be a lot of screaming and crying involved, but Tsuna will get his way.

Thankfully, Hibari’s presence seems to ward off the nightmares. I let him sleep well into the morning, even though he’ll end up missing school, it’s not like he was getting anything out of it with how dazed he’s been. Right now, he needs the sleep. He can easily catch up later. Mama came in to see why we hadn’t come down for breakfast, took one look at Tsuna in Hibari’s arms and turned right back around giggling… I’m going to ignore the frightening look I caught on her face.

It’s a little before noon when Tsuna finally wakes up. Hibari had woken up earlier but was perfectly content to stay in his position. Tsuna is not at all surprised to find Hibari in his bed. How disappointing, I wanted to see flailing.

‘What time is it?’ He asks groggily.

‘Almost noon.’

‘That means I missed school!’ Fully awake now he tries to get out of bed to get ready, but Hibari just pulls him back.

‘You can catch up.’

‘Do the others know?’

‘No.’ But seeing as Gokudera hasn’t come barging though the door yet, Mama probably did. I’ll just leave that part out.

He covers his face and groans, resigned at being fussed over by his guardians when school ends. Gokudera will be nearly inconsolable.

‘Let’s just get breakfast—lunch—whatever.’ Hibari relinquishes his hold at the premise of food. He gets ready while complaining about how I should have contacted them. If this is any indication, Tsuna is getting back to his baseline. Slowly, but he is making progress. He’s been rather passive, so seeing him take interest in arguing with me is a good step forward.

* * *

 

                After our late breakfast, we head out on a walk. Tsuna claimed he wanted some fresh air, in reality, he’s trying to put off the inevitable. We should have stayed at home. We came across a girl who is either new to Namimori or has absolutely no concept of self-preservation. Because why else would you confront and accuse Hibari of all people of child abuse. I can least take pleasure in the fact that Tsuna was lumped in with me as a child.

                She started following us shortly after we left the house but left her be since she didn’t have any bad intentions. Tsuna was in a rather talkative mood and eventually said something stupid that Hibari responded to with a playful hit to the shoulder.

                She apparently took offense to this.

                She leaps out of her shoddy hiding place from behind the pole glaring at Hibari ‘How dare you! Hitting a child like that!’

                ‘Child?’ Tsuna repeats sounding both confused and offended.

                ‘Don’t worry I’ll make sure to get you away from this brute.’ She assures him before going back to glaring at Hibari. He returns the favor and seeing that she doesn’t even flinch she must be incredibly brave or really, really stupid. Unfortunately, I get the feeling it’s the second.

                ‘I’m not a child’ Tsuna mumbles, he’s still stuck on that? He better reign in Hibari before he sends her to the hospital.

                ‘Tsuna—’

                ‘Hahi- your so cute!’ She interrupts. ‘Can Haru hold you?’ She asks reaching out her arms. I shouldn’t have said anything. Go back to antagonizing Hibari.

                ‘Don’t touch me.’ I swat her hands aside, making her even more worked up.

                ‘You corrupted this angel!’ She accuses him. Tsuna breaks out of his moping and looks at her like she’s crazy.

                ‘Can we just go home. I’d rather deal with my idiots.’ Tsuna asks when he catches Hibari’s hands twitch for his tonfa.

                ‘Hn’ Not paying anymore attention to the girl we head back to the house. The people we pass on our way home scramble to get out of our way when they see Hibari’s annoyed face with Tsuna beside him and some crazy girl screaming threats behind us. They all look at her like she’s absolutely crazy. Not that she isn’t. No sane person in this town would intentionally antagonize Hibari.

                Tsuna is getting increasingly aggravated as this goes on, his flames curling in on themselves in preparation to lash out. Not that anyone else would be able to tell with the pleasant smile he has plastered on his face.

                Finally, he has enough, and the smile slips of his face. ‘Will you stop following us already!’

                ‘Hahi- But Haru needs to save you and the cute baby from this brute.’

                ‘I’m not a kid! I’m around the same age as you are and Reborn, the cute baby your talking about is older than all of us. We don’t need you to save us!’

                ‘That can’t be. You both look so young. He threatened you to say these things didn’t he.’

                Tsuna rubs his face looking fed up with the world. ‘She’s an idiot. The worst kind of idiot.’ Tsuna whispers. ‘She’ll just twist anything we say to fit her world view.’

                ‘Can I?’ Hibari had pulled out his tonfas by this point. Clearly wanting to get rid of the annoyance.

                ‘Just knock her out.’ Tsuna apparently Before the girl could even react Hibari had hit her head effectively knocking her out.

                ‘Did you have to hit her in the head?’

                ‘There was obviously something wrong with it. Maybe this will fix it.’ He argues.

                Tsuna lets out an exasperated sigh, but tellingly doesn’t argue. ‘Let’s go.’

                ‘You know she’s going to keep coming back, right?’

                Tsuna just buries his face in his hands and groans.

* * *

 

                True to my prediction she confronts us again the next day on the bridge on our way home from school. This time decked out in hokey gear complete with a hockey stick and mask. ‘Haru will save you from that brute. Where is he?’

                ‘Who are you woman!’ Gokudera shouts back at her. Reaching for his dynamite. Yamamoto’s eyes have narrowed gaining and sharp glint to them.

                ‘Haru is Haru. Who are you?’

                ‘I’m Tsuna’s fr-friend.’ That would have been a lot more convincing if he didn’t look like a tomato. Tsuna looks like he’s about to start laughing.

                She looks at the skeptically. ‘Your lying! Someone like you couldn’t possibly be friends with an angel. You must that brutes’ lackeys!’

                I can just tell, this is going to end horribly. Because, instead of just Hibari, which was already a death sentence, she went out of her way to antagonize Yamamoto and Gokudera.

                That went over as well as excepted Gokudera pulls out lit dynamite and throws them at her, before Tsuna gets a chance to stop him. Yamamoto has positioned himself in front of Tsuna instinctually to protect him if she’s able to get through. Hibari hasn’t made a move, but there’s no need. They have it under control.

                ‘Gokudera! That’s enough!’ Gokudera pauses just as he’s about to light another round. The smoke clears and she’s holding herself up with the railing of the bridge.

                ‘Haru hasn’t lost yet!’ As she goes to push herself up the railing collapse underneath her. It must have been compromised in the explosions. With the heavy gear she isn’t able to prevent herself from falling into the river below. I switch to Yamamotos shoulder, so I can observe Tsuna better. They run up to where she fell in, she’s been quickly taken away by the current, and isn’t able to support herself well or swim with the water-logged armor weighing her down. Haru will drown at this rate.

                I catch Tsuna’s eyes shift to become a dark blue as he jumps in after her. Swimming faster than he should be able to he catches up quickly and grabs her under her arms. Yamamoto and Gokudera sprint down river to where Hibari is helping pull the girl to shore. Once out she’s of danger, he ditches her and turns his full attention to Tsuna.

                ‘Tsuna!!!!!!’ Gokudera yells running up to them. ‘Are you hurt!’

                ‘I’m fine,’ Hibari slips his jacket over his shoulders. ‘Just wet. Are you alright?’

                ‘You saved Haru…’

                ‘Of course he did! Tsuna is the best!’ Gokudera proudly states

                ‘You are Haru’s knight in shining armor! Haru will be Tsuna’s wife!’ Tsuna looks done with the world again while Gokudera and Haru argue with Yamamoto occasionally interjects. Hibari bristles like a cat whose fur has been rubbed the wrong way when Haru mentioned becoming Tsuna’s wife. Maybe there’s hope for these two idiots after all. But first.

                ‘Congratulations on your marriage.’ The dirty look he gives me is totally worth it.


End file.
